Until My Last Breath
by InvisiMeg
Summary: As the New Directions gather at Puck's to celebrate the end of the world, they find themselves in an actual fight for survival after an unforeseen force lands on Earth.
1. Day 1

**Okay, so…welcome to what I've been working on for the past month! I debated on whether or not I should make this a one shot, but I ended up deciding to post it in seven parts. I'll be publishing a chapter a night, the last chapter being up on December 21st. Each chapter is a day, so the story will take place between December 21st and December 27th. The first half of each chapter will be from Rachel's POV and the second half will be from Quinn's.**

**Fair warning, there are going to be multiple character deaths.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Glee characters.**

* * *

_Day 1_

Rachel looked around the room, immediately spotting Finn and sighing; she hadn't seen him since she came back to watch all of her old friends in Grease. It had been a huge mistake, but she knew it would be; she let herself be talked into it, though, and it had only made things worse for her and for Kurt. She just wanted everyone to be civil tonight and for things to not be awkward; she was probably wishing for too much, but hadn't she always?

"Are stars supposed to fall from the sky?" Brittany asked, drawing Rachel's attention toward the other side of the room.

"It's probably just a shooting star," Sam answered, leaning over to look out the window Brittany was staring out of.

From where she was standing, she could see Santana glaring at the back of Sam's head; she had heard through the grapevine that Santana and Brittany had broken up or were on a break or something. She had heard several different stories and didn't know which of them was the truth, if any were. Half of her friends might be out of high school, but everyone still loved to gossip on the rare occasions she or Kurt talked to them. She was very busy most of the time, so any conversation usually took place over Facebook, which she hated; it was so impersonal, but with everyone spread across the country, it usually the only convenient option.

"Excuse me," Kurt said, heading toward the hall.

She noticed him looking back and followed his gaze, where she found Blaine talking to Artie. She wondered for a moment if she should follow Kurt, but he probably just needed a moment to compose himself. His breakup with Blaine had been difficult, as she had seen firsthand. Blaine didn't exactly seem like he was doing great, either, and she figured it was only a matter of time before they tried to patch things up. Kurt was adamant that that wasn't going to happen, but he had been so sad lately and she knew he missed Blaine terribly. It wouldn't be easy for them, but she was still holding out hope that they would somehow make it.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Santana said, smirking at her, finally noticing her presence in the house.

"Hello, Santana," Rachel greeted.

"I'm surprised you're here, Berry; you're not exactly one to come to Puck's parties," Santana said, crossing her arms, and sitting on the arm of the nearby couch.

If anyone else had been throwing the party, it would be for the holidays; instead, Puck was throwing his "End of the World" party. She highly doubted he believed the apocalypse would happen tonight, but this was Puck, which meant he would use any excuse for a party. She was mostly surprised he had managed to restrain himself and only invite the former and current members of the Glee club. Rachel suspected it was the only way his mother agreed to letting him have the party at her house, though.

"While that is generally true, since I only have a few days, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see everyone while I am in town," Rachel replied. "Kurt and I are flying back to New York right after he spends Christmas with his family; we agreed that, since it is our first year living in the city, we have to be there to get the quintessential New Years' experience of watching the ball drop in Times Square."

"I forgot how much you talk," Santana said, narrowing her eyes.

Rachel sighed. "I see you haven't changed."

"Would you really expect me to?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrows.

Rachel watched as Santana stood up and approached her; for a few seconds she thought she might have angered the other girl and that she was about to be hit. Much to her surprise, though, Santana opened her arms and pulled her into a very stiff hug. It only lasted a few moments and, before Rachel had even realized the former Cheerio was hugging her, she was already walking away and back to sitting on the couch.

"Santana Lopez just willingly hugged you; maybe the world _is_ going to end tonight."

Rachel whipped her head around to find Quinn smiling at her. "Quinn!"

"Hi, Rachel," Quinn said.

The blonde's arms wrapped around her and Rachel hugged Quinn back, smiling softly to herself. Despite the fact they both had Metro cards to see each other, neither of them had made the trek yet. They occasionally exchanged emails, but they were both busy with their first year at their respective universities, so the messages were few and far between. Out of everyone, though, Quinn was probably the person she missed most.

"How are you?" Quinn asked, pulling out of the embrace. "I'm sorry we haven't talked for a while; finals were really hectic."

"That's completely understandable," Rachel said, waving her off. "And I am very well, thank you for asking. What about you? How have you been? How did you do on your finals?"

"I—"

"I think the town is on fire," Brittany suddenly stated.

"Someone in town is probably just shooting off fireworks, B," Santana said, taking a sip of beer.

"Santana is probably corre—"

Suddenly the lights went off and Rachel stopped speaking; the room was pitch black and she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face. She felt someone reach out, brushing their hand against her side, before finally reaching her arm and grabbing hold of it. She knew it had to be Quinn because she had been the only one within arm's reach when the lights went out.

"Dude, didn't I tell you not to turn everything on or you'd trip the circuit breaker!" Puck yelled from another room.

"I didn't!" Artie's voice came from within the room.

"Maybe the lights in the sky made it go dark," Brittany replied.

"Britt, what are you—"

Before Quinn could finish her question, there was what sounded like an explosion and the whole house shook. Quinn's grip tightened on Rachel's arm and the blonde pulled her closer, so their shoulders were touching. Rachel was grateful for the contact; it was very disorienting being in a house this dark, especially one she wasn't overly familiar with.

"What's going on?" Mike asked followed by what sounded like him running into something.

"Maybe Marley's mom fell down."

"Do you always have to be such a bitch?"

"What? Did you think I was going to be nice just because we're in your loser brother's house?"

"Noah, where are your flashlights?" Rachel asked, raising her voice so he could hear her over the squabbling teenagers.

"We don't have any," Puck said, his voice sounding nearer than before.

"What about candles," Rachel tried again.

"The only candles in this house are birthday candles," Puck replied, sounding as if he was in the room now.

Rachel sighed and pulled out her cell phone; she pushed a button, turning the display on, so she could at least illuminate the room a little bit. As she suspected, Puck was now in the room and Kurt was coming through the hallway with several others in tow. Just as he entered the room, the house shook again, this time much more violently than the first time; several pictures fell of the wall, shattering the glass in them.

"What the hell was that?" Puck asked

Rachel opened her mouth to answer but quickly closed it; she had no idea what was going on and had no idea how to answer his question. Instead, she turned to where Brittany was sitting and walked over to her. Quinn still hadn't let go of her arm, so she followed close behind, and Rachel wondered if maybe the blonde was afraid of the dark even though the idea seemed preposterous.

"Brittany, what have you seen out the window?" Rachel asked.

"I told you, stars are falling from the sky and there are a lot of lights and I think the town is on fire," Brittany said, looking at her.

Rachel looked out the window and looked up at the sky; she couldn't see anything but darkness. When she moved a little bit, though, something caught her attention. Well off to the right, she could see what Brittany must be talking about when she said the town was on fire. There was glow coming from that direction and actually did look like something might be on fire.

"I think there is a fire," Rachel stated. "It must have taken down the power lines."

"What about the lights in the sky?" Brittany asked.

"What lights?" Rachel asked.

"Those lights," Quinn said, pointing out the window.

Rachel looked again and now she could see what Brittany was talking about. She was tilting her head, trying to figure out what in the world it could possibly be, when another light flew right over them. Whatever it was, it was moving fast, and it appeared to be heading toward town, where the other light was.

"Britt, how many of these lights have you seen?" Quinn asked.

"A bunch," Brittany replied. "They all came from the sky and some of them went away, but a few of them stayed here."

Rachel looked at Quinn, who looked back; the blonde looked just as confused as she felt.

"How many is 'a bunch'," Rachel asked.

"Why are you even bothering? We all know Brittany is stupid, but none of you want to admit it."

Before Rachel even knew what was going on, Quinn rushed forward and grabbed Santana, who was already lunging for the blonde that had made the comment. Rachel had never actually met the other girl, but she assumed it was Kitty, who she had heard quite a bit about from Tina. Santana was screaming at the girl in Spanish and the blonde had actually backed away, probably sensing that she was going to be murdered if Quinn somehow lost her grip on the furious brunette.

The only reason Santana finally stopped was because another explosion ripped through the air, this time much closer than either of the previous two. It almost felt like an earthquake and Rachel nearly toppled into Brittany, but the blonde steadied her before she could completely fall into her. There were several sirens in the distance, but their sound faded away after only a few moments.

"Guys, what's going on?" Finn asked, and it sounded like he was running down the stairs.

"Oh, you just now caught that something was up, tubbers?" Santana asked.

"Now is not the time to fight with one another," Rachel interjected before Finn could say anything back to Santana. "We have to figure out what is going on outside, which means we need to stay calm and be rational about everything."

"Rachel is right," Quinn replied.

Santana half snorted, half scoffed. "Of course you would agree with the dwarf."

"Not now, Santana," Quinn snapped.

Rachel looked between the two friends, feeling a weird vibe from both of them, but she shrugged it off. "Noah, what are the chances you have a radio for emergencies?"

"Berry, you have a phone in your hand," Santana said, pointing to the device. "Why don't you use it?"

Rachel looked at her phone and was happy it was too dark in the room for anyone to see her blushing.

"I'm not getting a signal," Kurt said, waving his phone in front of him. "Is anyone else?"

Everyone pulled out their phones and the room became significantly brighter as everyone checked to see if they had a signal. There was a lot of everyone walking around the room and scowling at their phones before, one by one, everyone seemed to give up and shake their heads in defeat.

"Whatever took out the power lines must have taken out the cell phone towers as well," Rachel reasoned.

"End of the world," Sam whispered.

Everyone stood around and glanced at each other; some people were starting to look more alarmed than others as Sam's words sunk in.

"It's probably just a prank," Artie stated. "Some idiots from school probably thought it would be funny to cause some damage tonight and somehow knocked out the power."

"And the cell phones?" Mercedes asked.

"It could be a coincidence," Artie replied. "If you do any research about today, you will see that the Mayans were not predicting the end of the world; it's a misconception and everyone has jumped on the apocalypse bandwagon. It's Y2K all over again and we know how that one turned out."

"The lights are shooting lasers," Brittany announced.

"What?" Rachel and Quinn simultaneously said as they made their way toward the window again.

Santana pushed between them, so the four were all staring out the window; three had their mouths hanging open, but Brittany looked like she was enjoying the lightshow. Several others, including Kurt, Finn, Puck, Mike, and Tina rushed to various other windows around the house. Tina was standing on the tips of her toes trying to see how the window in the front door and Finn was trying to see above the four women in the living room.

"What the hell is that?" Tina asked, and when no one answered, it was clear that no one knew how to answer her question.

"Let me see," Kitty said, walking forward, and shoving Rachel out of the way. "Whatever it is, it obviously isn't the end of the world; I'm still here, after all."

Rachel frowned, confused by her statement. "What do you mean?"

"Don't ask," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel shook her head and turned back to the window, where there was a lightshow in the sky. Two round lights were flying through the sky and beams of light was coming from one of them. She couldn't be sure, but it did look like there might be several fires; she couldn't see a lot because of all the other houses and buildings around, but there was now a glow coming from multiple places and there appeared to be smoke rising from them.

Suddenly, Sam gasped and everyone looked at him curiously. "Guys, I think I know what that is!"

"Would you care to inform the rest of us?" Mercedes asked.

"Aliens," Sam said breathlessly.

Several people laughed and Santana scoffed, replying, "Those aren't aliens, dipshit.

"Well, what do you think they are?" Sam asked, frowning at her.

"How should I know, but seriously—aliens?" Santana replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I think he's right," Brittany stated.

Santana stared at Brittany and Rachel could tell she wanted to argue with Sam more, but that would mean she would also be arguing with the blonde Cheerio. So, Santana turned away and it was probably the first time Rachel had ever seen the other woman back down from an argument.

"We should all go home," Finn announced.

"Are you crazy?" Tina asked. "I'm not going out there."

"Do you seriously think aliens are flying over town?" Finn asked.

"Aliens or no—something is out there and I am not leaving Puck's house," Tina replied.

"Tina is right," Quinn said, still looking out the window. "We don't know what it is, but something is obviously going on and we should stay where we are."

"Well, I'm not staying here," Finn said, grabbing his coat from the hook near the door. "Who's coming with me?"

"I am," Ryder said, speaking for the first time. "Marley?"

The brunette shook her head. "I don't think we should leave."

"That's too bad," Kitty said, walking forward. "I'm sure Ryder and I will have lots of fun without you."

"Anyone else?" Finn asked, looking around. "Rachel?"

"I think we should all stay here, Finn," Rachel replied.

"I don't want to leave you here," Finn whispered, coming closer to her. "Please, come with me."

Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorry, Finn, but if you leave, you're leaving without me."

Finn huffed and crossed his arms. "I'm not leaving without you, Rachel; quit being stubborn and come with me."

"Finn, you are neither my fiancé nor my boyfriend and you are not going to make demands," Rachel said, whispering harshly. "While I would advise you to not leave, it is your choice as to whether or not you do, but I am staying here."

"You're not—"

"Finn, she doesn't want to go with you," Quinn said through clenched teeth.

"Fine," Finn said, clenching his jaw. "I'm leaving, and if anyone else would like to come with me, I have room in the back of my truck for several others."

With one last look at her, Finn turned and walked away; Ryder followed right behind him and Kitty smirked at Marley before running to catch up, falling in step beside Ryder. As soon as they were out the door, Tina immediately locked it behind them, and stood on her toes again, watching the three leave.

"I'm going up to Noah's room," Rachel announced. "Maybe I'll be able to see what's going on a little better."

"I'll come with you," Quinn quietly said.

Rachel used her phone to light the way and was proud of herself when she managed to only trip over one step on the way up. When she walked into Puck's room, she was hit in the face with a strong stench; she had no idea why, but with the exception of Kurt, every boy's room she went into always had an odor. She tried to ignore it, though, and walked to Puck's window, that faced the road in front of the house; when she looked out, Finn was just backing out of the driveway.

"Do you see anything?" Quinn asked, coming up beside her.

"I think the town hall is on fire," Rachel said, nearly pressing her face against the glass.

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked, putting her hand on Rachel's back, and leaning to the left so she could see out the window better. "What is going on out there?"

As soon as the question was out of the blonde's mouth, there was an explosion nearby and the two ducked out of instinct. Rachel was covering her head with her hands and Quinn was doing the same beside her. When the noise was over and the window was no longer vibrating, Rachel peeked up, looking out. Tears sprung to her when she realized there was a big ball of fire where Finn's truck had been only moments before. Her ears were ringing and she was vaguely aware that Quinn was talking to her, but she couldn't seem to make out what the blonde was actually saying.

* * *

"Rachel," Quinn said, holding the brunette's head in her hands, and trying to get her to look at her. "Rach, breath."

Her brown eyes were unfocused, her breathing was erratic, and Quinn was afraid the girl was going to have panic attack. She disliked Finn more than anyone else on the planet—well, except maybe her father—and even she was trying not to cry, so she could only imagine what Rachel must being feeling right now. She never understood how the brunette could possibly fall in love with the dimwitted boy, but clearly she had, and now he was gone.

She wondered if anyone downstairs had witnessed what had happened, but from the lack of noise, she figured they were they only two who had seen it. Her first priority was to take care of Rachel, though, so everyone else would just have to remain clueless for the time being. Plus, she didn't know what would happen once they did find out; she didn't want everyone to panic even more than they clearly already were.

"Rachel, talk to me," Quinn said, trying to get eyelevel with the brunette.

The other girl was obviously in shock and Quinn had no idea what to do; she liked to be in control, but right now, she felt completely helpless. She wiped away her tears that start falling and averted her eyes; even though Rachel didn't appear to be looking at her, she still felt self-conscious about crying in front of her. She knew she needed to be the strong one right now, which meant she couldn't break down.

"Are you tired?" Quinn asked. "It's been a long day—maybe some sleep would do you good."

Even though the brunette didn't respond, Quinn looked around for a place for the other girl to lie down. She cringed at the thought of Rachel laying in Puck's bed, so she gently guided her out the door. Luckily her legs seemed to be working just fine; the girl was small, but Quinn didn't know if she would be able to carry her. She brought Rachel to Puck's little sister's room and sat her down on the twin bed; it had pink sheets with stars all over them and Quinn smiled softly. If Rachel had been in any state to notice it, she imagined the brunette would comment on the little girl's excellent taste in décor.

"Lie back," Quinn instructed, gently putting her hands on Rachel's shoulders, and guiding her back.

Quinn removed the girl's high heels, hoping she would be more comfortable, and grabbed the comforter from the end of the bed, throwing it over Rachel. She knew she needed to go downstairs and let the rest of the group know what was going on, but she hated the thought of leaving Rachel all alone. So, instead of leaving immediately, Quinn sat on the end of the bed and ran her fingers through the brunette's hair; she didn't know if the other girl found it comforting, but her sister had done it to her when she was a little girl and it always made her fall asleep.

She paused for a moment, the thought of Frannie making her heart clench; if this was going on in Lima, did that mean it was going on in other places? How many other people were dead just like Finn, Kitty, and Ryder? She wondered if her mother was okay, completely unaware that anything was wrong or if her house was currently in ruins. With the phones completely dead, she had no way of contacting them to ask them if they were okay or to tell them to get to safety.

Quinn continued running her fingers through Rachel's hair; it took a while, but the brunette eventually closed her eyes and a few minutes later, her breathing evened out. Even though she was pretty sure the other girl was asleep, she still didn't get up for a while longer. She didn't want to risk waking Rachel, but she also didn't want to take her eyes off of her. She sighed quietly, though, knowing what she had to do, so she stood up as quietly as she could and walked to the door. Looking back on last time, she left the door cracked the littlest bit, hoping she would be able to hear Rachel if she woke up from a nightmare or anything.

When she walked downstairs, everyone was standing around, quietly looking out the windows. Only Kurt and Santana looked up at the sound of her footsteps; she could tell by the look on her friend's face that she knew something was wrong. The other girl could always read her like a book, but, luckily, she wasn't one for talking about things and usually didn't comment on anything.

"Where's Rachel?" Kurt asked.

"Upstairs," Quinn said, nodding. "Santana, can I talk to you for a second?"

Santana vacated her spot next to Brittany and followed Quinn into the Puckerman kitchen; as soon as they were away from the rest of the group, Santana turned to her with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Listen, I need you to go upstairs and sit with Rachel," Quinn said, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"I will as soon as you tell me what the hell is going on," Santana said, scowling at her.

"Finn's truck exploded," Quinn stated, getting a shocked look from Santana. "It's what the last explosion was; don't ask me how it happened, though. One moment it was there and the next I was ducking because I thought the glass was going to shatter. When I looked back out the window, there were flames where the truck was."

"Dios mío," Santana muttered, grabbing the nearest chair to sit in.

"She's in shock right now," Quinn continued. "I put her in Abi's room; she's asleep now, but I don't want her to be alone and I need to tell the rest of the guys what's going on."

Santana nodded. "I'll stay with her."

"Thanks," Quinn said, giving her friend a brief hug.

The two walked into the living room and Santana immediately headed for the stairs. Quinn was grateful the other girl didn't ask questions because she knew she wouldn't be able to answer them.

"Okay, I can tell that something is wrong, so what is it?" Kurt asked.

"Finn's truck—" Quinn took a deep breath; everyone's eyes were on her and she closed her eyes, trying to block herself from seeing their faces when she delivered the news. "When we were upstairs, we saw the truck explode."

"What?" Tina asked, looking like she was about to fall down until Mike wrapped his arm around her waist.

Quinn looked around; Kurt had his hand over his mouth and tears were streaming down his face, Jake had his arm around Marley's shoulder and she was crying into it, Puck looked like he had been punched in the gut, and everyone else looked like they were in various states of shock.

"Are you sure?" Joe asked, holding his cross necklace in his hand.

"I'm sure," Quinn quietly replied.

"Did you see what happened?" Artie asked

Quinn shook her head. "We were looking out the window and I was watching the truck when Rachel said she thought the town hall was on fire, so I looked over there. There was another explosion, so we ducked, and when we stood back up, there were flames were the truck had been. I don't know what happened; one moment they were driving alone and the next, there is a ball of fire where the truck was."

"Maybe we should go get help," Sam said, wiping at his eyes.

"No," Quinn said, shaking her head. "We should all stay right here."

"Who made you the boss?" Sugar asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Did you not just hear what happened to Finn?" Quinn asked, raising her voice.

"She's right—we should all stay here," Puck said, standing up, and walking over to stand beside Quinn. ".None of us know what the hell is going on out there, and until we do, we should stay where we're the safest. At least we're not out in the open, so maybe whatever is out there won't touch us here."

Quinn looked around and most people were nodding, but several looked like they still wanted to leave. She couldn't blame them, though; she wanted nothing more than to be safe and sound in her dorm, but that wasn't exactly an option.

"They're right," Artie stated. "We're safer here, as a group, than outside."

"It's settled, then," Blaine said, walking toward the middle of the room. "We stay here tonight."

"I know it's going to be hard, but we should all try to get some sleep," Quinn said, looking around at everyone. "We need to take turns keeping a lookout, though."

"I can take the first watch," Mike said, rubbing Tina's shoulder.

"Where's Santana?" Brittany asked.

"She's upstairs with Rachel," Quinn answered.

"I should be with her," Kurt said, standing up, and trying to wipe away his tears.

She nodded and squeezed his hand as he walked by; Finn was his stepbrother, after all, and he could commiserate with Rachel a little better than Santana could. As soon as he was gone, the other inhabitants of the room started slowly finding any bit of floor they could sleep on, since it looked like Mercedes had already claimed the couch and Jake and Marley seemed as if they were going to share the recliner.

Quinn walked over to Mike, who was getting as comfortable as he could perched on the windowsill. "Keep lookout for a few hours or until you're too tired to do it any longer; when you're done, find me and I'll take the second watch."

Mike nodded. "Do you have any idea what's going on out there?"

"I wish I knew," Quinn said, shaking her head.

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**I know I'm posting regardless, but reviews are always wonderful and very much appreciated. So, if you like it (or don't like it), please leave a review and let me know your thoughts/questions/comments on the story.**


	2. Day 2

**garnmcgaughn: I am aware she has called Quinn that, but she's retired the name for her and now uses it for Finn.**

**ToastedMarshmellow08: Yeah, I'm ignoring the Christmas episode since most of this was written before it aired.**

**Thank you for all the wonderful comments; I was a bit nervous about posting this, so it's great to see so many people liking it.**

* * *

_Day 2_

When Rachel opened her eyes, she momentarily forgot where she was and what was going on. The room was incredibly cold, and the sun was just rising, so the room was still mostly dark, but getting lighter by the minute. It wasn't until she saw the bed she was sleeping in that the previous night hit her—Finn was dead and something was destroying the town. She quickly wiped away the tears that were forming; she had cried so much the night before and she didn't want to do it anymore.

The bed shifted and she turned her head to find Kurt plastered to the wall; they were both fairly small, but the bed was tiny and Kurt was obviously trying to give Rachel her space. She didn't even know when Quinn had left and Kurt had come in; all she knew was that when the first nightmare came, Kurt's arms were around her and he was whispering words of comfort into her ear. As thankful as she was for him, though, she was probably even more thankful for Quinn. The blonde had surprising taken care of her when she could have just as easily went downstairs and grabbed Kurt or someone else to do it for. Instead, Quinn had stayed with her, comforting her until she had fallen asleep.

Rachel extracted herself from under the covers as quietly and gently as she could, hoping to not wake Kurt. He had been up with her half the night, letting her cry on his shoulder, and she imagined he was probably exhausted from it. She held her breath for a moment, but when Kurt didn't stir, she released it and walked toward the window, where she steeled herself before finally looking outside. There was a large tree in front of the window, so she couldn't see much, but what she could see made her heart sink. Even from her limited viewpoint, she could see that the town was half destroyed.

She'd heard screams and explosions in the distance for the better part of the night; it was partially why she had so many nightmares. She kept dreaming that she had gone with Finn like he wanted her to; in the nightmare, she would either be trapped in the burning truck, unable to get out as the flames got closer, or she would be outside while the other three were stuck in the truck. Every time, she would wake up crying, and Kurt's arms would be around her in an instant.

Even though she knew it was going to be bad when she looked out the window, nothing could prepare her for what she was seeing. Many buildings were on fire and smoke billowed from them while others were missing walls or roofs; cars were stopped haphazardly in the streets, several with their headlights still on. Rachel looked up to the flying objects in the sky and wondered if Sam was correct; could those be aliens up there, trying to destroy their world?

"You're awake."

Rachel looked over her shoulder and found Quinn standing just inside the door. "I am."

"Don't look out there," Quinn said, walking up to Rachel, and shutting the curtains.

"I've never seen so much destruction," Rachel said, shaking her head. "It's like one of those terrible disaster movies that Finn always liked watching so much."

Rachel clamped her mouth shut at the mention of her ex's name; she may have no longer been in love with him, but a part of her would always love him in a way. She'd had no ill feelings toward him, accepting over the last few months that they were not meant to be and neither of them were at fault for that.

"Do we know how bad it is?" Rachel asked. "Is it only Lima or—"

She let the question hand in the air; Quinn sighed and slowly shook her head before saying, "We don't know."

"Oh." Rachel nodded.

"I imagine the chances of it only happening in Lima, though, are pretty slim," Quinn quietly said after a few moments.

"Have you slept?" Rachel asked, taking a good look at Quinn; the blonde's eyes were bloodshot and her skin was pale.

"A little," Quinn replied. "We took turns keeping an eye out, but everyone else was so tired that Puck and I ended up doing it most of the night. Even when I finally laid down, though, it was hard to close my eyes."

"About last night—I'm sorry I—"

"Don't," Quinn interrupted, shaking her head. "Don't apologize."

Rachel took a deep breath and nodded. "Well, thank you."

"I came up here to bring you and Kurt downstairs," Quinn said, glancing at her sleeping friend. "We thought it would be a good idea to relocate to the basement; we'll be safer there in case—well, you know."

Rachel nodded again. "We'll be down there in a moment."

"Okay," Quinn said, turning and walking out of the room.

Rachel hated to wake Kurt, but Quinn was right about them being safer in the basement. She walked over to her friend and gently shook his shoulder; it didn't take long for Kurt's eyes to fly open and for him to have a concerned look on his face, probably worried that she'd had another nightmare.

"What wrong?" Kurt asked.

"Everyone is going to the basement," Rachel stated. "It'll be safer than us being on the second floor."

"Okay," Kurt groggily said as he leaned over the edge of the bed, looking around the floor. "Have you seen my shoes?"

Rachel grabbed them from the end of the bed and held them up for Kurt. "They're right here."

He slipped them on and stood up, extended his hand for Rachel to take. She gladly accepted it and they walked hand-in-hand out of the bedroom and down the stairs. She was glad he was by her side because when they walked into the basement, everyone was giving her looks of concern and pity. Without saying a word, Brittany came up and lifted her off her feet, giving her the longest hug she had ever experienced. She almost wanted to laugh, but given the circumstances, she tried to fight it off. When she was finally back on her own feet, everyone had gone back to what they were doing before she came into the basement; she saw out of the corner of her eye, though, that Quinn was watching her.

"Hey, look what I found," Blaine said, sounding excited.

"That thing is busted," Puck said.

"Maybe I can get it to work," Artie said, wheeling himself over to Blaine.

Artie took the radio and wheeled himself over to the workbenches, which was against the wall. Blaine and Sam followed him to help, and Rachel wondered if the three of them could fix it. She didn't know if hearing something from the outside world would be a good or a bad thing, though; they were either going to hear that help was coming their way or that this was going on everywhere and they were on their own.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Kurt asked, rubbing her back.

Rachel nodded and looked at her bare feet. "I'm okay; it's just been a long twelve hours."

* * *

Everyone seemed rather bored in the basement; not that there was a lot to do upstairs, but it was a lot harder to see what was going on outside, so people were just lying around, trying to keep warm. Mike had found a few board games on one of the shelves, but no one was really in the mood to play; he had finally talked Tina into playing a game of chess with him, only to discover that half the pieces were missing from the box.

Rachel kept herself busy by watching everyone else in the room; considering what was going on, some of the people were oddly relaxed. She didn't know if they were in denial about their situation or if they didn't get the seriousness of it. Most of the former Glee members, though, looked solemn; maybe it was because they had lost someone they had known for years or maybe they just felt like they were the ones in charge since—as scary as it was—they were the adults of the group.

"I'm hungry," Sugar whined.

"Food is in the corner," Puck said, nodding to the other side of the room.

"I want real food," Sugar replied.

"Too bad, princess," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel looked at the corner of food and it was clear they didn't have much; it was mostly bags of chips, some soda, and a few other things she wouldn't eat. She had to admit she was hungry as well—it had been nearly a day since she had last ate—but there was nothing edible for her here, so she would just have to wait. At the rate they were going, they would be out of food by tomorrow, and that made Rachel worry even more than she already was.

"Do you want to try to sleep more?" Kurt asked her.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't think I could."

"It is rather loud down here," Kurt replied.

It wasn't the noise that bothered Rachel—she just didn't want to have any more nightmares. It was bad enough when Kurt was the only one there to witness them, but there were over a dozen people in the basement, many of which she didn't really know. She was tired, but at least she got enough sleep the night before to make it through the day.

It took her a second to realize what was happening, but she was hearing static coming from the radio Artie was working on. A few minutes ago, he couldn't even get it to turn on, so he was making some progress on it. She looked around and only Quinn and Blaine seemed to notice that the radio was partially working.

"_Atta—"_

Everyone else's head swiveled around to the sound; Artie was staring at the radio with a determined look on his face and his hands were working furiously.

"Dude, is it working?" Sam asked, running over.

"Almost," Artie replied, jiggling a wire,

"_We're o—"_

Everyone got up from their positions and gathered around Artie as he was; he was obviously very close to getting the radio to work. He looked even more determined than ever now; his tongue was poking out of the side of his mouth and his eyebrows were furrowed together. Rachel put her hand on his shoulder, wanting to say words of encouragement, but not wanting to distract him from his work.

"_I repea—" Everyone held their breath through the silence. "There have been heavy casualties in the larger cities. Reports are coming in throughout the world and there are estimates as high as three million dead in New York City, four million in London, and ten million in Shanghai. Many of the towns across the country have been hit hard; with so many power plants taken out, though, communication has been difficult. Eighty-three percent of the American population is without powe—" _

The radio went out again and Artie fiddled with the wires for a few moments. Rachel was nervously waiting on him; she couldn't believe the destruction going on right now. So many lives had already been lost and it had been less than twenty four hours since this had begun. It was scary how fast something like this could happen, and she wondered how many more people would lose their lives before it came to an end.

"—_thorities have not said where the spacecrafts have come from, but they have confirmed that the ships are not from Earth. Militaries around the world are mobilizing in an effort to drive the ships away, but have so far been unsuccessful. Authorities are urging everyone to stay in their homes, in the lowest room of their houses. Get into a basement or underground shelter if at all possible. Under any circumstances, do not attempt to go into the open and _do not_ get into a vehicle. There have been numerous reports of the extraterrestrials targeting moving objects, so, please, stay out of them."_

The radio cut out again and Sam everyone looked around, shocked.

"Oh, hell no!" Mercedes said, shaking her head. "Mercedes don't do aliens."

"I told you it was aliens," Sam said, wild-eyed.

"Do you want a pat on the fucking back?" Santana asked, rolling her eyes at him.

"—_hite House and Pentagon have been leveled. Both were evacuated the moment the ships arrived, so causalities were minimal. From our best estimate, there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of spacecrafts scattered around the globe. Observers have put each ship roughly between eighteen and twenty feet in diameter, with speeds of up to two-hundred miles per hour. Astrono—"_

The radio completely lost power and Artie grabbed it. "Do you have any more batteries?"

Puck shook his head and shrugged. "Don't ask me, dude."

"I'll look around," Blaine said, walking away.

"I'll help," Joe said, following in his footsteps.

"Are you all right, sweetie," Kurt asked, pulling her over to the side.

Rachel shook her head. "I-I can't believe this is happening."

"It's a lot to process," Kurt agreed. "I don't think any of us can really believe it. Except maybe Sam—and Brittany."

"I think I'm going to lie down," Rachel said, looking around for some place to rest her eyes.

She knew she would never be able to sleep—not after hearing what she heard—but she wanted to be able to have a moment to herself and with so many people around, it was probably her best option.

* * *

From the moment Quinn heard the broadcast, her mind had been racing. Aliens were trying to destroy the planet and millions of people were already dead. She had always scoffed at the idea of there being anything else in the world; she had grown up attending church and they weren't big on believing in extraterrestrial life. Even though hours had passed since they received the news, she was still sitting in the same spot, with her head in her hands.

"Hey, Q, we need to talk," Santana whispered, coming up to the blonde.

"What is it?" Quinn asked, not bothering to look up at her friend.

"Listen, I don't know what the fuck is going on out here, but I do know if we don't get some food soon, we're not going to make it," Santana said, taking a seat next to her. "Puck, being the genius that he is, didn't even get enough food for the party, much less having enough food for nearly twenty people to live on for days. All that's left are a few stale bags of chips and some nasty soda someone brought."

"What do you think we can possibly do about it?" Quinn asked. "We can't leave; you heard the radio. If we do, we'll end up just like—"

"I'm not saying we should leave this second," Santana said, her voice growing even quieter. "Obviously we would need a plan first. I'm just saying we can't stay in Puck's basement forever; we're all going to starve to death if we do."

"You don't know that," Quinn stated.

"No, but do you really think help is on the way?" Santana asked. "This is Lima fucking Ohio; this is the last place help is going to come."

She knew Santana was right; if help was going to come to anywhere it was going to be the large cities where millions of people were already dead and countless others were probably injured. They were on their own for the time being; as much as they were probably all wishing it, no one was going to come save them. They were going to have to rely on themselves to make it through this.

"You're right," Quinn admitted. "I still think we should stay here for now, though; we still have a little food left, so we should be able to last a few more days. Once that's gone—well, I don't think we'll have much choice at that point. At least maybe the by then that thing flying out there will be gone."

"Fine, but the clock is ticking," Santana said, standing up, and walking over to her position on the stairs.

Quinn sighed and rubbed her temples; she knew some of them were going to have to go out sooner or later, but she was hoping for later rather than sooner. She may not admit it out loud, but she was scared, and the thought of going outside right now terrified her. She didn't want anyone else to end up dead, so she was hoping against hope that something would change between now and tomorrow.

"Are you okay?"

Quinn looked up and found a very concerned looking Rachel; she couldn't really trust herself to lie convincingly, so she just nodded in hopes that Rachel would leave it at that. Rachel being Rachel, though, sat down next to her.

"You've been quite silent for the past four hours," Rachel said, still staring at her.

"It's not polite to stare at people, Berry," Quinn said, but there was no malice in her voice.

It had been a long time since she disliked Rachel—actually, she didn't know if she had ever disliked her to be honest. Even though they hadn't been able to speak nearly as much as she would like, she considered Rachel a friend. Truthfully, Rachel was one of her best friends; she knew if she really needed someone to listen, Rachel would be the one to go to. She had known Santana and Brittany much longer, but Brittany was generally off in her own world and Santana was—Santana.

"Well, I apologize for staring, but I was concerned about you," Rachel replied. "Ever since we heard the broadcast, you've looked rather defeated, which I must say is not like you."

Quinn shook her head, a small smile gracing her lips. "In case you didn't notice, aliens are apparently trying to destroy us all."

Rachel huffed. "I am quite aware of that, Quinn."

"It's just—" Quinn shook her head. "You never expect for anything like this to happen—ever. I've seen the movies; Fi—" Quinn stopped, not wanting to upset the brunette.

"It's okay to say his name," Rachel stated. "Finn always enjoyed those disaster movies where something is trying to rid the earth of humankind. I can't begin to count how many times he made me watch Independence Day or Armageddon."

"Yeah," Quinn said, nodding. "Every time I watched one of those movies with him I would sit there thinking how this would never happen in real life, but here we are."

"We'll be all right," Rachel said, putting her hand on Quinn's knee, and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"What makes you so sure?" Quinn asked.

"Because I have faith in us," Rachel replied. "We've always been fighters, so why should now be any different?"

"You sound like you're doing better," Quinn noted.

Rachel took a deep breath and nodded. "Last night—it was like my body and my brain stopped working for a while. I kept telling myself to move and to answer you, but nothing was happening. I think it was just the shock of the situation and the fact that I had no idea what was happening. Now that I know what it is and I've had time to process, I can accept it. Of course, a part of me will always love him and miss him, but he wouldn't want me to shut down again like I did last night. He would want me and everyone else in this room to fight; he would want us to do everything we can to survive this ordeal."

Quinn nodded because she didn't know what else to do; she never thought of Finn as a selfless person and she could actually imagine him wanting Rachel to pine away for him for the rest of his life, but she wasn't going to say that—Santana probably would, but she wouldn't. As long as Rachel was dealing with it in a healthy way, though, she didn't care how she was doing it. Rachel wasn't all catatonic, so that was a plus in her book.

"How is Kurt doing?" Quinn asked, looking across the room at him.

"He wishes he had done something to convince Finn not to leave," Rachel replied. "Of course I told him that there was no way any of us could have ever predicted this. He's worried about how Burt and Carole are going to take the news; I think he's afraid they're going to blame him for letting Finn go."

Quinn wondered if Finn and Kurt's parents were even still alive to ever hear the news of their son. She wondered how many of the people in this room had lost family members and just didn't know it yet.

"What are you thinking about?" Rachel asked.

Quinn cleared her throat and looked away. "Nothing."

"It's okay to talk to me, you know," Rachel said in that voice that made Quinn want to tell her everything.

This is why she spent so much time pushing Rachel Berry away; she felt like the girl could always see right through her and she had this way of making Quinn want to confide in her. Growing up, she was taught that confiding in people was a weakness; Fabrays didn't talk about their feelings because it could be used against you. She took it to heart for a long time, too afraid to show anyone her true self. Rachel was always on the verge of pushing through, though, which is why she pushed back, calling the brunette names and trying to do everything she could think of to get her to go away. It never worked, though; Rachel was always determined to have her as a friend.

"I was wond—"

"Guys!" Blaine whispered loudly. "Don't make any noise!"

It wasn't very loud to begin with, but everyone remained perfectly silent, looking at Blaine questioningly. He was staring out the window, with his mouth hanging over, while everyone else waited with baited breath. After a few moments, Quinn heard a noise; she had no idea what it was, but it sounded like it was coming from outside. She quietly stood up and walked toward the window to stand next to Blaine. The windows were dirty on the outside, so it was hard to see, but what she could make out nearly made her heart stop.

"Is that—"

"I believe so," Blaine whispered.

"Well, are you going to tell the rest of us what's going on?" Sugar asked, and everyone shushed her, including Quinn, who turned around to glare at her.

When Quinn turned back around, she got as close as she could to the window, which meant standing up on her tippy toes. The thing lumbering down the street was huge and unlike any of the aliens in the movies she had seen. She couldn't get a good look at it, but from what she could make out, it was a big as a small semi. Luckily, it was moving away from them now, but she was even more uneasy knowing that something like that was out there.

She jumped when she felt something brush her arm, but she turned her head and realized it was just Rachel, who had come to see what they were looking at. The brunette had brought a stepstool over to be able to see outside, and Quinn knew the moment she had spotted the alien. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, trying not to make any noise. Quinn quickly took her other hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, hoping to reassure the brunette that everything would be okay. She knew it wasn't a promise she could keep, but she was damn well going to try. Rachel had saved her once, whether she knew it or not, and she wasn't going to let anything happen to the petite diva.

"Are you ever going to tell us what the hell you're looking at?" Santana loudly whispered.

"You don't want to know," Quinn said, looking at her friend.

"Like hell I don't," Santana replied.

Quinn sighed. "An alien was going down the street."

"You saw an alien?" Sam asked, sounding more excited than scared. "What did it look like?"

"It was big," Blaine answered and Quinn nodded in agreement.

"It was big?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrows. "A fucking alien goes down the street and all you can say is that it was big?"

"Well, if Puck washed these windows every century, we might be able to see out of them a little better," Quinn retorted.

"Hey!" Puck said, scowling. "Puckzilla doesn't clean; that's a chick thing."

"Noah," Rachel said, turning around and putting her hands on her hips. "I would appreciate it if you could refrain from referring to the women in this room as 'chicks'."

"Sorry," Puck mumbled.

Quinn wanted to laugh; aliens were trying to destroy them all, but Puck still looked more afraid of Rachel than the fact that there were spaceships in the sky and a gigantic alien just went by his house.

* * *

**As always, I'd love to hear everyone's comments on the chapter.**


	3. Day 3

**Thanks to everyone that has continued to read and a big thanks to everyone that has commented.**

* * *

_Day 3_

Rachel woke up late Sunday morning; it was way past her normal wakeup time, but she had been up half the night. A lot of it was due to her ongoing nightmares, but she had also insisted keeping Kurt and Quinn company while they were on lookout. They took it in shifts, two people every two hours, but Rachel didn't feel right not having a turn. She knew they were doing it because most of them were still concerned for her; it was sweet, but she didn't need them worrying about her. She would make it through this just like she made it through high school and was currently making it through NYADA. Nothing had ever been easy in her life and she looked at this as another obstacle in which she would come out the other side as a better and stronger person.

"Are you awake?" Kurt whispered.

"No," Rachel replied.

"Good," Kurt said, turning to face her. "Did you sleep okay? I heard you tossing and turning, but it didn't seem quite as bad as the other night."

Rachel nodded; she'd still had the nightmares, but they weren't quite as vivid. She woke up twice, but she had luckily not cried out; instead, she got her breathing under control, managed to keep her tears at bay, and tried to fall back to sleep. It wasn't easy—she wanted to take up Kurt and be comforted—but she had made it through the night.

"I had the same nightmares, but it wasn't quite as bad," Rachel replied.

Kurt reached out his hand, grabbing hers, and giving her a sad smile. "Rachel Berry, always the strong one."

Rachel laughed lightly. "I don't know about that, but thank you."

Kurt was laughing lightly as well when his belly grumbled causing him to look embarrassed by it. "I think that's a sign that I am _way_ too hungry."

"I don't know what we're going to do if we don't get some food quickly," Rachel admitted.

As the time went on, everyone had been getting grumpier and tempers were starting to flare; it was mostly Santana, but she was even worse than she normally was, snapping at everyone, including Brittany. She had profusely apologized to the blonde immediately after it happened, but that was the first time Rachel had ever seen it happen.

"I don't see it happening anytime soon," Kurt said, sighing. "Some of us are going to have to leave and see if we can find any rations."

"You don't think help is on the way?" Rachel asked.

Kurt shook his head. "No, sweetie, I don't. Maybe if we were in New York right now, but this is a small town in Ohio; I don't think we're going to be high on the priority list."

The truth was, she believed exactly as Kurt believed, but she was praying she was wrong. The government and military were going to help the largest populations first, where they could help the most people at once. Who knows what conditions the roads were even in right now or if anyone _could_ help them if they tried. She was very much aware of the fact that they were on their own, even if she didn't really want to believe it.

"I know," Rachel whispered.

"I think we just have to hope that the military is doing something out there right now; maybe not here, but if they can get rid of them in other places, maybe they will retreat from here as well," Kurt said, shrugging.

"You mean the rest would go back to the mother ship?" Rachel asked. "I can't believe those words just came out of my mouth."

Kurt laughed. "Yes, that's what I mean."

"Will you two shut the hell up?" Santana snapped. "Some of us are still trying to sleep and we don't need to hear your stupid conversation."

"I think she's losing her wittiness," Rachel whispered into Kurt's ear, so Santana wouldn't hear her. "I would expect a much better reprimand from her."

Kurt tried to cover his laugh, probably not wanting to be yelled at by Santana again. When he laid back down, Rachel scooted over, cuddling into his left side. She was hungry and would only be bored if she got up now, so sleeping a little while longer sounded like a much better option as long as the nightmares stayed away.

* * *

Rachel had been watching Quinn from the moment she finally woke up and got out of her makeshift bed. She knew the blonde wasn't okay and she seemed to be getting antsier by the moment. Everyone was on edge and visibly afraid, but Quinn seemed to be beyond that. Rachel remembered Finn once saying that Quinn was claustrophobic, though, and they had been stuck in the basement for the past day. She wished there was something she could do to help Quinn like she helped her the other night, but other than taking her outside, she didn't know what she could. Since that obviously wasn't an option, she watched Quinn with a feeling of helplessness.

Kurt was sitting beside her, reading a book he found in one of the boxes, but she'd noticed a while ago that his eyes were no longer moving across the page. She felt like the reality of the situation was finally sinking in for everyone; during the first twenty-four hours, most of the group was acting as they always did, but the room had become much more somber and tense. Maybe it was the fact that several of them had seen an alien with the own eyes or maybe everyone had finally just had enough time to process what was going on.

She patted Kurt's shoulder and stood up; he looked at her curiously and she motioned toward Quinn. He nodded, indicating that he understood, and then went back to staring at his book. She walked over, Tina smiling at her along the way; the girl had been crying a lot and Rachel was glad to see that she had stopped for now. Rachel didn't know if Tina and Mike were back together, but he had been by her side nearly the whole time, trying to comfort her.

When she sat beside Quinn, the blonde looked at her; she looked paler than even the day before and had bags under her eyes. Rachel wondered if she was sleeping at all, but before she could voice the question, she was cut off.

"Are you hungry?" Quinn suddenly asked.

"I must admit I am starving, but I'm trying not to think about it," Rachel said with a shrug of her shoulders.

She looked down at Quinn's outstretched hand and her brows furrowed; she looked up at Quinn in confusion, but the blonde just shrugged and smiled.

"Where did that come from?" Rachel asked, knowing she was gawking at the apple, but she was too hungry to really be ashamed by it.

"I found it in the kitchen this morning," Quinn answered. "Somehow it must have been overlooked when they brought the rest of the food down. I think it's the only fruit left in the house—actually, I think it's the only food left in the house."

"Why are you giving it to me?" Rachel asked. "You're hungry as well, right?"

Quinn shrugged. "I'll be okay. You on the other hand have not eaten since you stepped foot in this house, so don't argue with me."

"But Quinn—"

"I told you not to argue with me," Quinn said, nudging her shoulder into Rachel's. "Take the apple and please do it before Santana senses food in the room and pounces." Quinn looked at her for a moment and sighed. "I know what you're thinking; don't feel guilty. Everyone in this room has eaten something in the past day except you."

"Thank you," Rachel whispered, trying to stop the tears from coming to her eyes.

"There's no need to thank me," Quinn said, looking down.

"Yes, there is," Rachel replied. "And not just for this. You wouldn't let me thank you properly for what you did Friday night, but I want you to know that it means a lot to me. You easily could have made someone else stay with me, but you didn't leave my side. Thank you for being there for me and taking care of me."

"Like I already said, there is no need to thank me," Quinn said, smiling softly at her.

Rachel looked at the apple in her hand and smiled for a moment before biting into it. Santana's head snapped up at the sound and she looked around for a moment before laying her head back down. Quinn had her hand over her mouth, clearly trying not to laugh, and Rachel was trying to chew quietly as to not alert Santana again.

"How is it?" Quinn asked.

"I believe this is the best apple I have ever tasted in my life," Rachel stated, taking another bite.

"I think you're biased," Quinn said, smiling.

"Maybe," Rachel replied, still chewing. "But I don't think so."

"Berry!" Santana yelled.

When Rachel looked up, she saw the other girl pointing at her; she froze like a deer in the headlights and then quickly took the last few bites of the apple while Quinn laughed beside of her. Santana stomped over to her, glaring the whole way, and stopped a few feet in front of Rachel with her hands on her hips.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Santana asked.

"I gave it to her," Quinn replied without hesitation, cocking her eyebrow.

Santana huffed and walked away without saying another word. Rachel was confused by the whole exchange and looked to Quinn for an explanation, but the blonde didn't seem like she was going to give her one. She had never seen Santana back down so quickly, even when it came to Quinn.

"How did you do that?" Rachel finally asked.

Quinn shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I think I need some more sleep."

Rachel nodded. "I'll leave so you can sleep, then."

Rachel smiled at her one last time and stood up, walking back to Kurt, who still had the book in front of his face, but didn't seem to be reading.

* * *

Rachel stretched as she stood up; she didn't mind enclosed spaces, but she was starting to feel a little cooped up and restless after being in the basement for well over a day. She knew she wasn't the only one, though; Jake and Mike had been pacing around the room for several hours, Brittany would randomly jump up and down every little bit, and Puck would get up for several minutes, only to sit back down the next. Considering how many of them were down there, they were just lucky that Puck had such a large basement and they were able to move at all.

She looked around for a moment and tilted her head; something didn't seem right, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Kurt, does something about this room seem different to you?" Rachel asked.

Kurt looked up and looked around. "No."

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked. "Something seems—missing."

"Well, Mike finally sat down," Kurt said, shrugging.

Rachel shook her head. "It's not that."

"I don't know then, sweetie," Kurt replied.

"I thi—where's Sugar?" Rachel asked, suddenly noticing that someone was missing, and that's what seemed different. "She was here earlier, but she's not here."

Kurt looked around, frowning. "Did anyone see where Sugar went?"

Everyone looked at him and then looked around; it didn't seem like anyone else noticed the girl was missing before Kurt asked. They all shook their heads 'no' or shrugged."

"I'll check upstairs," Puck said, standing up, and heading up the stairs.

"I'll go with you," Jake said, following right behind him.

"You don't think she would leave, do you?" Rachel whispered.

"I don't know," Kurt said, shaking his head. "If she did—" Kurt sighed. "Let's just hope she didn't; no one should be out there alone right now."

Everyone waited around, staring at the stairs, waiting for Puck and Jake to come back. Quinn and Santana were both in the middle of the room, hands on their hips; Quinn looked concerned and annoyed at the same time, while the latter just looked annoyed. There were a few minor shakes of the house, probably from something exploding outside, but no one really seemed to pay attention to the vibrations anymore. They had been happening several times an hour, sometimes more, and most of them were used to it. In the beginning, people would look extra frightened, looking around at each other when they would happen, but now everyone simply ignored them.

Every time they happened, though, Rachel couldn't help but wonder if it meant more people had just lost their lives or what part of town had just been destroyed. She tried not to think of the bad things, instead trying to focus on the fact that she was alive, as were most of her friends, but the thoughts would still enter her mind. Mostly she wondered about her fathers and if the tremor meant they were no longer alive. It was impossible to know and, despite her best efforts not to think about it, she was constantly worrying. She could only pray that they were safe and sound in the basement, going out of their minds worrying about her like she was them.

It took the two guys a while to come back, but when they finally did, Puck walked down the stairs shaking his head.

"She's not in the house," Puck said to the group.

"Are you sure?" Tina asked.

"We checked every room—she's not here," Puck said, shrugging.

"Idiot," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"San—"

"No," Santana said, shrugging Brittany's hand off of her shoulder. "She's an idiot for leaving; she's going to die out there because she was too stupid to stay down here." She looked around and rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You're all thinking it, but I'm the only one that has the balls to say it."

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Tina asked.

Santana scoffed. "That was me putting it nicely."

"Santana is right," Rachel said, causing everyone to look at her in surprise. "No one should leave the basement alone for any reason. We're much safer down here, as a group, than we are anywhere else."

Rachel looked at Quinn, who had remained silent; the blonde gave her a slight nod and said, "They're right; she's probably dead right now because she left."

"You don't know that for certain," Mercedes quietly said.

"No, I don't, but in all likelihood, she's dead," Quinn stated. "I hate to say it, but I think you all know it's true. You all know what happened to Finn, Ryder, and Kitty—you know how dangerous it is out there, so learn from their mistakes and don't do anything foolish."

Everyone remained silent, but a few people nodded in agreement. Rachel wondered why Sugar would leave, but she figured maybe she didn't want to be stuck in the basement, without food any longer. Whatever the reason, she hoped Quinn was wrong and she had somehow made it someplace safe, though she knew the chances were not very good.

* * *

Quinn had been staring out the window for the past two hours, wishing she could leave the basement. She was a bit claustrophobic and hated enclosed spaces, so being stuck down there for this long was a nightmare for her. She tried not to think about it, though, and looking out the window seemed to help; it made her forget for a few moments that she was actually stuck in this room.

"I'm super hungry," Brittany said, turning to look at her. "My stomach keeps making noise and I'm pretty sure it's eating the rest of my insides."

"I know, B, me too," Quinn replied.

It had been over a day since they had eaten, and even then they didn't have a lot to eat. She didn't usually eat a lot of junk food, but she would almost kill for a cheeseburger at this point. She knew she wasn't the only one, though; she was pretty sure she heard Sam mumble something about pizza in his sleep.

"We should get food," Brittany said.

Quinn sighed. "I know, but we can't."

"Yes, we can," Brittany stated.

"It's too dangerous, B," Quinn replied. "We have nowhere else to go with food, that would be safe."

"That's not true," Brittany said, shaking her head. "We should go to my house. There's a lot of food and we have this really cool underground place that my parents made."

"What?" Quinn asked, furrowing her brows, wondering whether or not Brittany knew what she was talking about.

"Yeah, my parents have been talking about the end of the world for a long time and they built somewhere for us to go, but it's really big, so all of us could fit in there," Brittany explained. "We have all kinds of food and water down there and weapons and there are several rooms with beds and stuff."

Quinn raised her eyebrows and turned her eyes to Santana, who obviously been listening in on the conversation. She knew they were both wondering the same thing—was Brittany right or was this one of those things where she was mistaken. Surely she wouldn't say this, though, if it wasn't true, and Brittany's parents were complete hippies that worried about the government, so she could see them having a bunker as a complete possibility.

"Have you ever seen what she's talking about?" Quinn whispered, taking a few steps toward Santana.

She shook her head, but then shrugged. "It's possible; they tore up their backyard a few years ago and I never knew why, but she didn't actually build anything on top, so maybe they were building something underneath. You know B's parents are a little crazy; this is the type of insane thing they would do. Don't you remember the lecture they gave us on being prepared for the zombie apocalypse?"

"Too bad it wasn't a lecture on the alien apocalypse," Quinn wryly said.

"We could get there," Santana stated. "You know we can. If what Britts is saying is right, we would be a hell of a lot better off there than in this damn basement. We need to go now because it's only going to get worse; no one is going to help us and I'll be damned before I starve to death in this place."

Quinn sighed. "I know."

She looked around at everyone and wondered how many people would go with them or if people would want to stay here, where they knew they were okay for the time being. They would have to go miles, by foot, and a lot could happen in that time.

"How many people can fit in the bunker?" Quinn asked the other blonde.

"A lot," Brittany said, shrugging.

"Can all of us fit?" Quinn asked.

Brittany nodded vigorously. "Definitely."

"Britt, why didn't you tell us about this before?" Quinn asked.

Brittany shrugged. "I didn't think to."

Quinn and Santana looked at each and the dark-haired girl shrugged a shoulder, indicating that it was Quinn's move. She knew the sign all too well; her friend liked to be in charge, but she usually didn't like making decisions on her own. It was the reason Quinn was captain of the Cheerios and not Santana.

"I'll let everyone else know about this before we all go to sleep," Quinn said. "It will be dangerous, so it will be their decision whether they go or not. Anyone who doesn't want to go can stay here."

"When do we leave?" Santana asked.

Quinn looked around the room for a moment, then looked at Santana and said, "Early tomorrow morning."

* * *

Quinn was actually nervous as she waited for the right moment to tell the group about the Pierce's bunker. She was worried about who would go and who would stay. Even though it was clearly their best option, she knew not everyone would go. Her biggest worry was that Rachel would want to stay; she didn't want to go without the brunette, and if she decided not to go, Quinn didn't know what she was going to do.

She was most worried about the brunette because, other than Brittany and Santana, she was the person in the room that meant the most to her. It amazed her how quickly things could change; it was a year ago that she quit fighting with herself and finally tried to be a friend to Rachel Berry. For far too long she had done everything in her power to make the diva hate her, so she would stay away, but it was futile. Being friends with Rachel was not in the plan for high school, but it was one of the things that meant the most to her now. She used to want the brunette out of her life, but now she couldn't really imagine her not in it.

Rachel had stopped her from making a colossal mistake last year; even now she regretting almost doing it, so she could only imagine how she would have felt if she had taken her daughter from the only mother she knew. She couldn't let her mind go there right now, though; she couldn't think of her daughter right now. She knew if she did, she would completely break down and she couldn't afford to let that happen.

The sun has set a while ago, so she knew it was probably around seven o'clock; people would be going to sleep soon, so it was now or never. Santana had been glaring at her for a while, and she knew it was because the other woman wanted her to get on with it. The longer she waited, though, the longer she could pretend that everything was okay—that everyone was going to go with them and everyone would be safe.

After a few more moments, she stood up and walked toward the middle of the basement. She looked back to Santana, who gave her a swift nod, and Quinn cleared her throat. Several people looked at her questioningly, but most of the people in the room didn't even seem to notice she was standing there.

"Can everyone—listen to me for a minute," Quinn said, causing everyone to look at her.

"What's going on?" Artie asked, looking at her curiously.

"We—Santana, Brittany, and I—think we need to get out of this basement," Quinn started. "Br—"

"And go where?" Jake interrupted.

"Britt says her parents built an underground bunker that has food, water, beds—everything we need to survive for a while," Quinn continued. "It's big enough to fit everyone in the room and we would be completely safe there."

"How would we get from here to there?" Tina asked.

"That's the problem," Quinn said, looking around. "This is why everyone has to make their own decision about whether they stay or go; it's going to be dangerous. We know there are two spaceships in the sky, shooting at things, and that there is at least one big alien actually on the ground. We've already lost several people, and if you go, I can't promise you a safe journey; it's going to be a huge risk getting to Brittany's house. That's why I want all of you to think about it tonight; if you want to go with us, you're more than welcome, but if you don't, you can stay here, and that's perfectly fine, too."

"You're sure there's enough stuff for all of us there?" Sam asked.

"Brittany says there is," Quinn stated.

"Yeah, but—" Mercedes glanced at Santana. "Is she sure?"

"I'm sure," Brittany said, nodding.

"How far is her house from here?" Marley asked.

"It's on the other side of town," Quinn replied.

"Do you really think we could make it?" Joe wondered.

Quinn sighed. "Listen, I know it's a long way to go; we're going to be working there, and who knows what's out there. It's isn't going to fun and some of us could die—maybe all of us. We can't continue staying here much longer, though; we have no food, no water, and this room is too small for fifteen people."

Mike nodded. "When do we go?"

"We thought it would be best to leave in the middle of the night," Quinn answered. "If we walk quickly and don't run into anything, we should be able to get there in about four hours; the sun rises around eight, so we should probably leave here around three in the morning. That will give us a little bit of time to rest, but will still give us five hours before we have to find shelter for the day. Hopefully we won't need to find shelter, though, because hopefully we will have made it to Brittany's by then."

Quinn looked at Rachel, who had surprisingly remained quiet during the whole thing. She wished she could tell by the look on the brunette's face what her decision was going to be, but her expression was unreadable at the moment. Kurt was whispering in her ear, and Rachel began nodding, but Quinn didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign.

"How many do you think will come?" Santana asked, coming up behind her.

"It's hard to say," Quinn said, sighing.

"Do you think Berry and Porcelain will come?" Santana asked.

"Huh?" Quinn asked turning around. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know—you've been staring at them for the last minute, so either you have a thing for flaming gay men or you totally want in the midget's not so hideous skirt." Santana tilted her head as she looked at the brunette across the room. "Come to think of it, she doesn't look half bad anymor—"

"Santana," Quinn said, interrupting. "First of all, you are way off base, and second, there was never anything wrong with the way she dressed to begin with."

Santana laughed, and as she started walking away said, "Yeah, I'm totally off base."

* * *

"I'm going with you guys," Puck said, coming up, and sitting down beside Quinn. "You three ladies need a man with you, and I'm just the one for the job."

"If you make some crack about needing to repopulate the earth, I will chop something very vital off," Santana said, scowling at him.

"Me too," Sam said from nearby.

"You don't need more time to think about this?" Quinn asked.

"What's to think about?" Sam said, shrugging. "You were right when you said we can't stay here; we're all going to die here anyway if we don't get food and water soon, so I would rather die trying to get someplace better than die sitting here."

"Tina and I are in as well," Mike said.

"Yo, who all is going?" Puck asked loudly.

"I am," Marley quietly said as she looked around at the group.

"Me too," Jake chimed in, giving Marley as smile, and bumping fists with his brother.

"I'm staying here," Mercedes said, shrugging. "There's no way in hell I am going out there with those things around."

Quinn nodded; she had a feeling all along that Mercedes wouldn't go, so it wasn't really a surprise to her. She wished she could change her mind, but she knew Mercedes could be quite stubborn, and if she'd made up her mind, there was no changing it. Besides, it was her decision to make, so Quinn would just have to hope for the best for the ones that stayed.

"I'll go with you," Blaine said next, glancing at Kurt, who still hadn't said anything.

"I'm staying," Artie answered. "I would only hold you guys up, and who knows if I could even make it there in my chair."

"Dude, we can help you," Sam said.

Artie shook his head. "It's okay; I'll stay here and hope for the best. Besides, with you all gone, this might not be a bad place to stay."

Sam laughed and clapped Artie on the back. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," Artie said with a nod.

"I'm not going," Joe said.

Quinn nodded and then looked to the only two people that hadn't answered, one of whose answer she was anxiously awaiting. "What about you guys? Have you decided yet, or do you need more time to think about it? I mean, you have a while longer, so don't feel pressured to make a decision right now."

Santana snorted behind her and Quinn rolled her eyes.

Kurt and Rachel looked at each other for a moment, and then Rachel said, "We're going with you."

Quinn was relieved and found herself smiling at the brunette, who was smiling softly back. "Okay, if everyone has already made their decision, for those of you that are going, we leave in five hours. I know it's going to be hard, but try to get as much sleep as you can before we head out."

So, in the end, it was her, Rachel, Santana, Brittany, Kurt, Puck, Jake, Marley, Mike, Tina, Blaine, and Sam that decided to go. She was actually surprised that so many people wanted to go, but they all knew the dangers, and still made up their minds to leave Puck's place. People were probably getting desperate, though, since it had been a while since any of them had a full stomach, and the situation was only going to get worse. At least if they went, they had a chance.

She looked at Rachel again and breathed a sigh of relief; she wanted to do everything she could to protect her friend, so she was relieved the brunette had decided to go. She really didn't know what she was going to do if Rachel had decided to stay, but she was happy she didn't have to find out.

"You're drooling over Berry again," Santana said as she walked by.

Quinn narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Completely off base."

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

* * *

**Reviews are always welcome and highly encouraged.**


	4. Day 4

**Izabella G. D: I was sad about having to leave anyone behind, but it had to be someone.**

**Guest: Thank you!**

* * *

_Day 4_

Rachel tried to get some sleep, but it was impossible with their impending departure on her mind; she knew going was the right thing to do, but that didn't make her any less anxious about it. She knew that so many things could go wrong, yet she was still going to go. She had been worrying all night, though, if they were all going to make it to Brittany's; she tried not to think about it, but that was easier said than done. Kurt was lying next to her and it was obvious that he hadn't gotten much sleep, either; she heard him tossing and turning ever since his head hit the pillow.

Since she couldn't sleep, she had spent most of the night watching Quinn and Puck, who had their heads bent over a piece of paper, talking in hushed voices. She assumed they were coming up with a plan, which was good because she really didn't want to leave something as important as this up to chance.

Everyone was moving around now, but no one was really saying a word. The three who were staying were sitting off to the side, watching the rest of the group, and Rachel could see the sadness on their faces. By their expressions, she could tell they thought everyone else was walking off to their doom.

Every time she looked at Quinn, the blonde seemed deep in thought; Rachel wondered what was going through her mind right now, but she didn't want to intrude by asking. She wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but she knew she couldn't do that. They we about to embark on a dangerous journey and Rachel knew they would be lucky to all make it there alive.

"Is everyone almost ready?" Quinn asked.

Everyone nodded and looked around at each other. No one really had much stuff to take with them; several people had whatever they came with, others had their sleeping bags that they had been using, and others had nothing at all.

"Before we go," Puck walked to the area under the stairs, "I figured we might need these."

He pulled out several guns and Rachel raised her eyebrows in surprise; they looked like guns that would be used for hunting, but that didn't seem like an activity Puck would partake in.

"Does anyone know how to shoot one of these?" Puck asked, looking around.

"Me," Sam said, nodding.

"Okay, dude," Puck said, handing one of them over. "Shoot the aliens, not the people."

"I think I can manage that," Sam said, giving him a lopsided smile.

"Anyone else?" Puck asked.

"I can," Santana said, much to everyone's surprise.

Puck looked at her suspiciously. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "If you remember, I have older brothers, and they like to hunt. I've went with them several times, so I know how to shoot a gun. Now, hand it over."

Puck didn't look like he wanted to do it, but he handed over the gun. Everyone seemed to be eying Santana as she looked over the gun, oblivious to their stares.

"You know, I didn't think anything would be scarier than Santana when we lost Nationals, but Santana with a gun just topped that," Artie said.

"Do you have any other weapons?" Blaine asked.

"A couple hunting knives," Puck said, shrugging, and then handing one over to Blaine.

"Give me one," Quinn demanded.

Puck handed it over without hesitation. "Be careful with it."

Quinn rolled her eyes and then narrowed them. "Do you think I'm going to fall on it or something?"

"No, I—" Puck looked away, avoiding the blonde's glare. "Never mind."

"If that's everything, we should get the hell out of here," Santana said, stepping up.

Rachel looked across the room in sadness; without a word, she walked over, giving the remaining three a hug. She gave the longest hugs to Mercedes and Artie, who had been in the Glee club right from the beginning. She wanted to say a lot of thing to them, but for once, words were failing her. She never knew if she would see these people again and the thought was bringing tears to her eyes, but she didn't want to cry. She wanted to be strong, so she quickly wiped at her damn eyes, and turned around, walking away. One by one the rest of the group walked over, hugging the people they were about to leave. She noticed that she wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes; in fact, by the end, most of the group seemed like they were trying not to cry.

As soon as everyone had said their goodbyes, Puck looked at his watch, and said, "It's a little after three."

Quinn nodded. "We should go if we want to make it by sunrise."

They started heading toward the stairs and Rachel was right behind Blaine, with Kurt behind her. They all gathered near the back door and waited for Quinn or Puck, who seemed to be leading the expedition, to give them instructions.

"Okay, guys," Puck said, looking at everyone. "We're going out the back, so we'll be less noticeable than walking down the street, and hopefully the houses will block the aliens from seeing us. We're going through the backyards for as far as we can; once we get there, we'll regroup and tell you the next leg, okay?"

Rachel noticed that Puck actually looked excited, but he was probably just happy playing all those video games finally had a use. She knew from her time with Finn that the two loved their shooting games where they had to run around, trying to stay away from the people that wanted to kill them. Puck probably thought of this as a real life version of that, which is probably why he had that look on his face right now.

Quinn cleared her throat. "Puck and I agreed—if anyone gets left behind or if people get split up, we're not going back. If you're the one that loses the group, it will be your decision to come back or to try to get to Brittany's house on your own. Understand?"

"But Quinn—"

"I'm sorry, Brittany, but that's how it has to be," Quinn interrupted. "We have to keep moving, and we can't risk the whole group dying for one person."

"Everyone follow me," Puck said, putting his hand on the doorknob.

* * *

Rachel had never been more scared in her life than she was at the moment; she was jumping at every little sound, terrified that they were going to come upon an alien or see one of the spaceships in the sky. She wasn't the only one, though; everyone else seemed to be on edge, whipping their heads back and forth with every little sound.

Going through the backyards was easier said than done; a lot of them had fences that they either had to climb over or find a weak spot that they could make a hole to climb through. Still, though, it was better than marching down the street where they could be spotting by anything. One of the houses on the street had even been half destroyed, so they had to climb over the rumble to get through it and into the next backyard. As she passed by, Rachel couldn't help but wonder when it happened and if anyone might be alive and trapped inside.

She had never felt so guilty in her life as she walked on without stopping.

Every little bit they would come to the road and in pairs they would quickly run across the next row of houses. For Rachel, that was the most stressful part. As they ran across, they would be completely out in the open for anything to see them. As she watched the pairs go, she would hold her breath until they were safely on the other side and she could breathe a sigh of relief. Then the next group would go, though, and she would do it all over again. Kurt would usually grip her hand tightly, and she noticed him squeezing extra hard every time Blaine was the one going across with Sam. She didn't comment and would run her thumb along the back of his hand, trying to tell him that everything would be okay.

It was when they crossed their first street that Rachel began noticing Quinn; the blonde was watching her, constantly looking back to check on her. At first Rachel thought she was doing it to check on everyone, but the blonde would only look at her, and then look ahead again. She couldn't figure out why Quinn was doing it, though, or why she had been protecting her since everything began. She wasn't used to this kind of behavior from the blonde, and didn't really know what to make of it.

They were currently standing in front of a tall, white picket fence; half of them were through the large fence, and it was Rachel's turn to go through next when she first heard the noise. It made her stop in her tracks and look around.

"What's the holdup?" Santana asked.

"Did you hear that?" Rachel whispered.

"Hear what, Berry?" Santana asked, rolling her eyes.

"That clicking sound?" Tina asked, and Rachel nodded. "I hear it too."

Santana scoffed. "I don't hear anything. Now, get your ass through that fence; we don't have all night."

"I think I hear it too," Mike said, looking over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked, sticking her head back through the missing slats in the fence.

"These two think they hear something," Santana said, motioning between Tina and Rachel.

"Let's just hurry up and get out of here," Quinn said, putting her hand through, and grabbing Rachel's.

Rachel was about to go through the fence when she heard it again; she knew she wasn't the only one that heard it, though, because Quinn's grip on her hand tightened and the blonde froze. When she looked back, even Santana was looking around with wide-eyes and muttering to herself in Spanish.

"Come on," Quinn said, quickly pulling her through.

Tina came through next, and a few seconds later, there was a bloodcurdling shriek from Santana. Mike stumbled through, being pushed from behind by Santana; the former Cheerio was the last person through, and once she was on the other side, she didn't stop running.

"San?" Brittany said as the other girl quickly went by and grabbed the blonde's hand.

"Run," Santana yelled, heading towards the gate on the other side of the yard.

No one else questioned it, and everyone took off running after the two. Quinn still had Rachel's hand and was tugging on her arm, telling her to speed up; Rachel was suddenly thankful she had added running to her workout routine when she went to New York. As they ran, the clicking from behind them seemed to get louder, and Rachel chanced a glance back. The moment she looked, though, she wished she hadn't because she could now see them clearly; they were being pursued by several aliens, who seemed to be gaining ground on them.

They didn't look like the one they had seen going down the street a few days ago. These were much smaller, about the size of a large dog, and looked very bug like. They had four spindly legs that they were running on and pincher like things on their faces. They didn't have a carapace like a bug would, though; their skin was more like that of a mammal and was a grayish blue color.

"They're catching up," Rachel yelled so her friends would be able to hear her over all the other noise.

Several others looked back, their eyes widening; as soon as he saw them, Puck was trying to get the gun off his as he continued to run. Most people had picked up the pace, but several people were still lagging behind, a bit more out of shape than the rest of the group.

"We're not going to outrun them," Puck yelled with his gun now in his hand.

They were trying to quickly jump over the chain link fence, but Blaine and Marley both stumbled and the rest of the group was trying to help them out. Rachel knew Quinn had said there was no going back to help people, but that was easier said than done when it was your friend. As Jake and Mike were helping Marley, Puck fired a shot from his rifle, but they were all running again before they had a chance to see if any of the aliens went down.

The next two backyards were fenceless, which made the running a lot easier, but when they got to the next one, the only option was to climb over it.

"Dammit!" Puck shouted, slamming his hand against the fence.

He turned around, firing another shot; it connected with one of the aliens, but it didn't seem to slow it down very much, and there were still two others running at full speed. Beside her, Santana pulled out her rifle and fired a shot, but it missed. She took a step back, but she was up against the fence with no place to go. Mike hand climbed up and was straddling the fence, trying to pull Marley up, but everyone else was standing around below; the fence was too high for most of them to climb themselves and there would never be enough time for them all to make it.

In the moment before the aliens finally got to them, it seemed like everything slowed down. After that, though, everything happened so fast that Rachel had no idea what was going on. Before she knew it, she was pushed to the side, and watching everything from where she had been knocked to the ground. There were shots being fired, screams coming from her friends, shrieks and clicks coming from the aliens, and lots of swearing coming from Santana.

It seemed like an eternity as she watched the two sides fight, but it was most likely only a minute or two before Kurt was pulling her up from the ground. He was shouting something at her, but she couldn't seem to stop watching what was going on in front of her long enough to focus on what he was saying. It was until Jake fell down in front of them, clutching his side, that Rachel finally snapped out of it and rushed forward.

Puck's brother was bleeding profusely; Rachel had no idea what caused it, but he had a huge gash from the upper, right part of his chest, down to his lower left side. She was trying to put pressure on the wound to help with the bleeding, but it was just too much, and her hands couldn't cover it all. She did her best, though, and called for Kurt to help her.

One of the aliens was lying on the group, appearing to be dead, and another one fell to the ground as Santana fired her gun. There was a third one left, but Rachel was too busy trying to help Jake to care about where it was. It wasn't until Quinn called her name that she looked up and saw the thing heading straight for her. On instinct, she draped her body over Jake, trying to protect the bleeding boy; she closed her eyes, waiting to be hit, but it never came. When she looked up, the alien was lying limply over Quinn, who was pulling a knife out of the creature.

"We need to get inside," Sam said, walking over to Quinn, and kicking the alien's corpse off of her. "All that noise might attract more of them."

Mike ran over and jiggled the handle to the backdoor, but Puck said, "Not this house; we need to go over a couple more. It would be too obvious that we'd be in this one."

Puck walked over and pushed Rachel and Kurt to the side as he reached down to grab Jake's arm; Blaine rushed over, putting Jake's other arm around his shoulder, so he could help move him. Instead of trying to make it over the fence, Puck led them to the front yard; he looked around, and he must have been satisfied because he started walking across the yard. He took them a few houses over, to one with a 'for sale' sign in the yard, before he finally stopped and nodded to the door. Tina was the closest to it, so she tried the doorknob, but it was locked; she kicked the welcome mat to the side, though, and reached down, picking up the key to the house. As soon as the door was unlocked and open, everyone silently filed in.

* * *

Quinn hoped they could make it to Brittany's house before sunrise, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. They were still a few miles away, and now many of them were injured from the fight. Jake was worst off, but Santana had a large cut down her arm, Marley appeared to have a broken wrist, and she had noticed that Puck and Sam were both limping slightly.

She didn't like being in this house; there was no basement, so she felt more vulnerable to another attack, and since the house was in for sale and the tenants had obviously already moved out, there was no food in the place. The one thing the place had going for it was huge; for the first time in days, Quinn was getting a quiet moment to herself as she lay on the floor, in one of the many bedrooms. She was there for several minutes, watching the room get lighter and lighter, when there was a light knock at the door.

"Come in," she said, figuring it was Brittany, since she knew Santana would have just barged in.

She was surprised, though, when Rachel opened the door and walked into the room. The brunette looked paler than she had ever seen her before and she was covered in blood; Quinn had a moment of panic before she realized it must be Jake's blood that was covering her sweater, not Rachel's.

"I wanted to make sure you're okay," Rachel quietly said.

"I'm fine," Quinn lied.

The truth was she couldn't move or even breathe without being in excruciating pain; she knew from her experience as a Cheerio that she probably had a broken rib, but there wasn't much she could do for it. She was just trying not to move too much or breathe too deeply to avoid some of the pain.

Rachel watched her for a few moments, and just when Quinn thought she going to turn and walk away, the brunette took a few steps closer. Quinn really just wanted her to go; she didn't want Rachel to know she was hurt, but it was hard hiding the pain from her face, especially since the other girl was looking at her so intently.

"Where are you hurt?" Rachel quietly asked as she kneeled in front of Quinn.

"Who says I'm hurt?" Quinn defiantly asked, trying to mask her pain as she sat up, hoping that Rachel would take it as proof that she was fine.

Rachel tilted her head and smiled softly at her. Quinn hated that smile. She hated that Rachel could see right through her lies—most of them, anyway—and she hated that Rachel was the only person to come up to check on her.

"You took care of me," Rachel stated. "Now let me take care of you."

Quinn hated the idea of anyone taking care of her, but she was in too much pain to really argue at the moment. Plus, she knew Rachel would never give up anyway, so she was just going to save both of them the trouble. Lying back down, she let out a painful breath of air and shook her head.

"I'll be okay," she said, hoping to appease Rachel somewhat. "I just—hurt my ribs a little."

"Can I see?" Rachel asked.

Quinn looked down at herself, cursing the fact that she always wore dresses; if she had been wearing a shirt, this would be a lot less awkward. She nodded anyway, and allowed Rachel to gently help her up. Rachel slid down the zipper and carefully pulled down the top of her dress, just enough to see the already discolored area. She self-consciously wrapped her left arm around her midriff, and flinched as Rachel fingers softly brushed over the spot.

"How much does it hurt?" Rachel asked.

"A little," Quinn said, trying to downplay the truth, but then Rachel prodded the spot. "Shit!"

Rachel's eyebrows rose. "I think that is the first time I have heard that kind of language come from you, so I am going to assume you are in considerably more pain than what you are willing to admit."

Quinn huffed, but then immediately regretted it, wincing at the stabbing pains.

"Wait right here," Rachel said as she turned around.

Quinn pulled the top of her dress back up, but she couldn't reach around to zip it, so she kept left hand over it to stop it from falling back down. Give the situation they were in, she found it a bit absurd that she was still concerned about anyone seeing her stretch marks, but even now, she couldn't stop her insecurities from coming out.

When Rachel walked back into the room she was smiling. "I have some good news and some bad news."

"What's the good news?" Quinn asked, not ready to hear anything else bad.

Rachel held out a bottle of water. "I managed to get this from the kitchen before they were all gone; I'm going to assume the realtor brought these to the house in case they were showing the house and one of the potential buyers became thirsty."

"Thanks," Quinn said, taking the water, and smiling.

"And I also have these," Rachel said, holding two pills in her open hand. "Now, normally I would never give medication that is prescribed to me to anyone else, but given the circumstances, I think I can make an exception. They should help with the pain; my doctor prescribed them to me a few weeks ago when I did a bit too much rehearsing and ended up injuring my ankle. I have no need for them now, but luckily I was still carrying them in my purse."

"Will you zip me?" Quinn asked, turning her back toward Rachel.

She twisted off the cap to the plastic bottle and threw the pills into her mouth. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until the water hit her tongue, and then she downed half the bottle at once.

"So, what's the bad news?" Quinn asked, lowering the bottle.

"Can I sleep in here with you?" Rachel asked. "Most of the other rooms are already spoken for; there's one down the hall, but I think Santana and Brittany are having sex in the room next to it and I would rather not hear that while I am trying to rest. I would normally go where Kurt goes, but I noticed him and Blaine talking, so I would like to give them some privacy."

"That's the bad news?" Quinn asked, amused.

"Well, I figured you would prefer to be in here alone, so yes, that is the bad news," Rachel replied.

"It's fine, Rachel," Quinn said before pausing and frowning. "Wait—Santana and Brittany are having sex in one of the rooms?"

"That is correct," Rachel said, nodding.

"So much for Sam and Brittany," Quinn said, sitting down as gently as she could.

"What exactly happened with them?" Rachel wondered.

"Santana broke up with Brittany for some really stupid reason, but then she regretted it almost immediately," Quinn explained. "You know how she is, though; she tried pretending like she was okay when she wasn't, and then Brittany and Sam started dating a few weeks ago, which is when it really hit her. I guess she finally stopped trying to kill Sam with her glare and told Brittany the truth."

"Poor Sam," Rachel said, frowning.

Quinn nodded in agreement. "He should have known not to get between Santana and Brittany, though."

She watched as Rachel walked to the window and looked out; it was completely daylight outside now and the room was bright. It was a stark contrast from the way they were living in Puck's basement less than twelve hours ago.

"We should probably leave as soon as the sun sets," Quinn commented.

"Do you think you will be okay to walk the rest of the way?" Rachel asked, looking down at her.

"I'll have to be," Quinn said, sighing.

Rachel nodded and then gave her a small smile before walking to the door; she opened it and bent down, picking something up in the hall. When she turned around, she had a sleeping bag in her hands.

"I asked Mike for it, so you would have something soft to sleep on," Rachel said, walking back over, and kneeling down to spread the object out. "I didn't think sleeping on the hardwood floor would be the most comfortable thing for you to do."

Quinn appreciated the gesture, although, if it had been anyone else, she would have scoffed and felt offended that they thought she needed their help in any way. She knew Rachel was always sincere in her concern, though, and she didn't feel like the brunette was going to judge her—but that didn't mean she wanted Rachel to think she needed her help. Still, she was glad to not have to sleep on the hard floor, and appreciated that Rachel was trying to make her more comfortable.

"Thank you," Quinn said with complete sincerity as she scooted onto the sleeping bag.

Rachel smiled at her. "You're very welcome, Quinn."

Quinn tried maneuvering herself, so she could lie down without too much pain, but it was difficult when everything seemed to hurt. She eventually made it onto her back, though, and watched at Rachel went to the window and twisted the blinds shut. When the brunette came back, she laid down a few feet from Quinn. She felt bad that Rachel was sleeping on the hard, cold floor; she wanted to ask if she wanted to share, but she didn't know how the brunette would feel about sleeping that close to her.

"May I ask you something?" Rachel suddenly asked.

Quinn looked at Rachel and nodded.

"Why have you been watching out for me so much?" Rachel asked. "And don't say you haven't been, because I saw you today, and it wasn't just today, but you've been doing it all week. You gave me the last bit of food, you took care of me right after—" Rachel trailed off and shook her head. "Today I saw you looking back and I assume you were making sure I was okay since I was the only person you were looking at. You got hurt because of me, didn't you? It was coming for me, but when I looked up again, it was on you."

Quinn sighed and then paused for a moment before quietly saying, "I don't know."

"I think you do know," Rachel said, propping her head up on her hand. "Do you just feel sorry for me or is it something else?"

Quinn looked away and stared up at the ceiling. "Can we not talk about this right now? There are a lot more important things to worry about."

She didn't mean it to sound so harsh, but she really didn't want to have this discussion right now. She was tired and in pain, and all she wanted to do was sleep—or do anything other than talk about this.

"Fine," Rachel said, sighing, and lying back down.

She hated that Rachel had noticed, but of course she had—Rachel always seemed to notice everything. Quinn was just thankful that the brunette didn't appear to have figured out yet that she was in love with her.

* * *

**I always love reading people's comments, so please take a moment to leave one.**


	5. Day 5

**chuppachup: Sorry it didn't help with the insomnia, but I'm happy you're enjoying the story.**

**Izabella G. D: I'm glad you said this; I'm always worried about the action scenes because it's hard to describe what I see in my head. I'm usually worried I'm not making things clear and that I'm just going to confuse everyone.**

**Queen Nan: Thank you! And that's good to hear; I'm always a little worried about killing people, and especially so many, but I felt it was necessary for this story.**

**I can't thank everyone enough for continuing to read this story and leaving the wonderful reviews.**

* * *

_Day 5_

Rachel was staring out the window of the bedroom she and Quinn had slept in. Every now and then she would see a flash of light in the sky, but it was otherwise mostly dark. The moon was obscured by clouds as well as the smoke that still seemed to be permeating the air. The fires were mostly out at this point, though; it had started raining sometime while they were asleep, which seemed to have put the remaining fires out.

As badly as Rachel always wanted to get out of Lima, it still hurt to see the town she grew up in like this. A third of the buildings had either burned to the ground or were crumbling apart. The worst of the attack appeared to be over, though, which gave Rachel some hope. She knew they were still out there, but they no longer seemed to be firing upon the town.

The group was supposed to have left as soon as the sun went down, but after seeing an alien just down the street, they decided to wait a bit longer. No one wanted another attack like the last one, so they all agreed that waiting would be the best thing to do. Since several people were injured, it would make it impossible to outrun anything, so avoiding it was going to be the only way they would all make it to Brittany's house.

They had managed to stop Jake from bleeding to death, but he was still in considerable pain and couldn't move very well. While Quinn would not openly admit it, Rachel knew she was also in a lot of pain, but the medicine she was giving her did seem to be helping. No one really knew that Quinn had been injured, though, and Rachel knew the blonde wouldn't want everyone else to find out, so she had kept quiet about it. She had even lied to Mike early when she asked for the sleeping bag; instead of saying it was for Quinn, she told him that she had hurt her shoulder during the fight.

"Rach." She heard a light knock and the door and turned around to find Kurt there.

"Are we finally leaving?" Rachel asked.

Kurt nodded. "No one has seen anything for a while, so Puck and Quinn think it's safe to go."

Rachel hopped down from the windowsill, checked to make sure she still had everything she came in with, and then walked out to join everyone else in the dining room. When she entered, Puck and Quinn were whispering to each other while the rest of the group was milling about. She gave Jake a friendly smile as she walked by and took a seat next to Kurt. The moment she was seated, Quinn looked up, locking eyes with her for a moment and gave her a small smile.

"Okay, now that we're all here, we should go over a few things," Quinn said, addressing the whole room.

"We are still about three miles from Brittany's house," Puck said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It was the safer way to go, but we lost a lot of time yesterday having to climb over so many damn fences. With people hurt, that isn't really going to be possible for us to do, so we had to come up with a different way."

"Just get on with it," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"We're going down the street and hoping nothing sees us," Puck stated.

"Is that really safe?" Blaine asked.

"No, but we can't do what we did and that was our only other option," Puck replied.

"We'll try to stay close to the houses along the street, so we'll be less likely to be spotted," Quinn added. "A few streets over is a wooded area that goes almost the rest of the way to Brittany's house, so at that point, we'll go inside the trees, which will provide cover for us. I kn—"

"But we have to make it there without dying," Sam interrupted.

"Dude, we're not gonna die," Puck said, sounding annoyed.

"Whatever," Santana said, standing up. "Can we stop talking and just get over to Britt's place? She says there is coffee there and I needs my caffeine."

After Santana stood, everyone else started getting up and heading toward the front door. Rachel motioned for Kurt to go on because she wanted to talk to Quinn for a moment. When Puck finally walked out and they were the only two left in the dining room, she stood and went over to the blonde.

"How are you feeling today?" Rachel asked.

"Better, than yesterday," Quinn answered. "It still hurts, but I think the pills you gave me are helping."

"Are you coming?!" Santana bellowed.

Quinn rolled her eyes and Rachel laughed lightly before shrugging and saying, "She's _your_ best friend."

"I know," Quinn wryly replied.

* * *

Rachel figured they must be getting close to Brittany's house by now; it felt like they had been walking for hours, but it could have been a lot less. Being so close to the road made their journey even more stressful than the night before; she felt so vulnerable because if anything came along, there wasn't really any way for them to hide quickly. At one point Tina thought she heard something, so they all hid; it was a good thing, too, because a minute later they saw something run down the street. Being as dark as it was, no one could tell if it was an alien or an animal, though.

Going through the woods wasn't quite as easy as Rachel was anticipating; they weren't very far in, but she could barely see a few feet in front of her. All around her she could hear people stumbling over tree roots and occasionally it would sound like someone flat out ran into one of the tree trunks. They were all trying to be quiet, but there were still lots of cussing and yelps of surprise.

"I see my house!" Brittany suddenly said, and it sounded like she was jumping up and down.

A few more steps and they were all at the edge of the wooded area; there were several houses in the distance, but there was a large expanse between where they were standing and where they needed to be.

"Which one is it?" Tina asked.

"The yellow one," Brittany answered.

She heard Kurt sigh beside her and he was probably thinking exactly what she was. There was a large field, two houses, and another smaller field between them and the house, and there was nothing to protect them. They were going to be walking out in the open, and there only hope of not being seen was the fact that it was still dark out. Unfortunately for them, the moon was peeking through the clouds for the first time all night, so it was lighter now than earlier.

"Do we run?" Mike asked.

"Would we be less noticeable as a group or individuals?" Tina asked. "If we all go at once, it will be over quicker, but there's a lot more to spot. If we go separately, it will take a lot longer, but they might be less likely to see us."

"I think we should split up," Puck answered. "If we're seen, it will give the rest a chance to get away."

Rachel looked at Kurt and looped her arm around his.

"Let's at least go in pairs," Quinn said, looking around.

"Any volunteers to go first?" Puck asked.

"Britts and I will go," Santana said, stepping forward.

"I should go with her," Sam said, taking a step toward Brittany.

"Why?" Santana said, scoffing.

"Because if anything happens, I can protect her better," Sam argued.

"Like hell you can," Santana said, sneering at him.

"Okay, Santana and Brittany will go first," Quinn said, interrupting their arguing. "Make sure when you get there that you let everyone else know where to go."

Brittany nodded and grabbed Santana's hand. "Sorry, Sam."

The blonde haired boy didn't look very happy, but he gave a curt nod and stepped back.

"You two run as fast as you can," Quinn instructed.

"No shit," Santana said, smirking at her.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Just go."

Everyone watched as Brittany and Santana started running, hand in hand, out of the trees and into the field. Several minutes later, Quinn turned around and looked at the remaining members of the group.

"Puck, why don't you and Jake go next?" Quinn suggested.

"You sure?" Puck asked.

Quinn nodded. "Don't run too fast, though."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of my bro," Puck said with a nod.

Quinn waited a few minutes and then let Mike and Tina follow the Puckerman brothers. It was hard to keep track of the people as they went; she would think she saw movement every little bit, but it was hard to tell through the darkness. She didn't hear any screams, though, so she was taking that as a good sign since she had no other way of knowing if everyone was okay or not.

"Sam, can you go with Marley?" Quinn asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

Sam grabbed the brunette's uninjured hand and they started running together; Rachel watched them until she could no longer see them, and then the waiting began again. There were only four of them left, so this was almost over. She never thought going from one side of Lima to the other would be this stressful—of course, she also never thought aliens would be trying to destroy the human race.

"Are you okay with Kurt and Blaine going together?" Quinn whispered into her ear, causing Rachel to jump.

Rachel nodded. "That's fine."

"You two go next; Rachel and I will be right behind you," Quinn quietly said.

Blaine looked at Kurt and gave him a smile; Rachel was actually glad the two were paired up. She knew how much Blaine still cared for Kurt and that he would probably do anything he could to keep her best friend safe. She also knew Quinn would do everything she could to keep her safe, even though she hadn't quite figured out why.

"We're almost there," Rachel said, breaking the silence.

"Almost, but not quite," Quinn replied.

They fell silent again and Rachel waited—she waited for any sign that something had happened to Kurt and waited for her time to go. They were so close now, and every second she stood there seemed like a minute to her. She was trying to be patient, which really wasn't her forte, but she knew it would only stress people out more if she was trying to hurry them along or complain. She could see how tense Quinn had been since this all began and she didn't want to add to it, so, for once in her life, she chose to remain quiet.

"You ready?" Quinn whispered.

Rachel nodded in affirmation and Quinn reached her hand out from her. When she took the blonde's hand, she gave it a squeeze, hoping to give her some sort of comfort. She didn't want to say anything, but she was nervous about what they were about to do and imagined Quinn was probably the same way.

"Okay," Quinn said, taking a deep breath, let's go.

They started running across the field and Rachel did her best to keep up with Quinn, who, despite not being on the Cheerios in quite a while, still seemed to be in remarkably good shape. It was easier said than done, though, when the ground was slick with frost. The temperature had dropped considerably while they were out and Rachel imagined it was now below freezing, which made it difficult to breathe. She wanted to take a break to catch her breath, but she knew that wasn't an option, so she didn't even voice the thought.

Rachel heard it before she saw it; there was the sound of something going through the sky, but the clouds were obscuring the moon again, so she didn't know where it was coming from. She was praying that she was, but she felt Quinn's hand stiffen in hers, so she knew she wasn't the only one that had heard it. They didn't slow down and Rachel tried to focus on getting to the house, which was getting closer by the second, but still so far away.

She stumbled in surprise when a beam shot out from the unseen spacecraft; it hit nowhere near them, but instead hit somewhere in the second field. She kept on running, but wondered if it had hit any of her friends. Would it have been Sam and Marley or Kurt and Blaine? She had no way of knowing where everyone was at this point.

A second beam hit near the first, setting the tall grass on fire. The fire gave off enough light for her to see something moving near the flames, but not enough for her to make out what it was. This time, Quinn slowed down slightly and turned them a bit, so they were no longer running right toward the fire and would go behind the house instead of in front of it.

They were finally going past the house when Rachel thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked in that direction, she didn't see anything. Something in her gut told her that there was something there, though, so she tugged on Quinn's hand trying to get her attention. When Quinn didn't respond to her in any way, Rachel came to a complete halt, stopping the blonde as well. Quinn was looking at her questioningly when Rachel thought she saw movement again, so instead of giving her companion an explanation, she tugged on her hand and started running toward the shed that was a few yards away from where they were standing. She threw the door open and dragged Quinn inside, putting her hand over the blonde's mouth as soon as she opened it to speak.

Quinn removed Rachel's hand from her mouth and leaned in close to whisper, "What is it?"

"I saw something," Rachel whispered back.

The shed suddenly lit up and Rachel looked through the slats; several yards away was an alien like the first one they saw. It looked even bigger up close and this time she could actually see what it looked like; there were three eyes on the alien's face and it didn't have legs, so it slithered across the ground. She looked up toward the sky and could see the spaceship hovering above the house, shining a beam of light around the ground like it was looking for something, and Rachel wondered if it was looking for them.

"They're looking for us," Quinn whispered.

"I don't think they know we're in here," Rachel said as she looked to see if she could see anyone else in the field beyond the house.

"No," Quinn agreed. "We would already be dead if they did."

"I hope everyone else is alright," Rachel said, sighing.

"They are," Quinn replied, squeezing Rachel's hand.

Rachel turned her head and smiled at her appreciatively. The room was incredibly small and filled with gardening equipment, so there wasn't any room for them to move. Quinn was pressed up against her back and she could feel the blonde's heart pounding as fast as hers was, if not more so. She moved her hand out of Quinn's grasp, so she could turn it around and entwine their fingers together.

The room was getting a little darker as the spaceship moved its beam further away from them; it didn't seem to be giving up, but at least they were going in the opposite direction. The alien on the ground was still close by, though, but it either didn't seem to be very intelligent or just couldn't see very well in the dark.

Rachel turned around so she and Quinn were face-to-face; she was looking around the room, trying to see what all was in the small space.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked.

"Trying to see if there is anything in here that could be used as a weapon," Rachel replied, but Quinn was staring at her in such an intent, but unreadable way that she stopped looking around. "What?"

Quinn's lips quirked up and she whispered, "Nothing."

"Are you scared?" Rachel asked.

"Terrified," Quinn replied.

"We'll be okay," Rachel promised. "They have no idea we're in here."

"That's not what I'm terrified of," Quinn quietly said.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when she realized she didn't know what to say. Quinn was still looking at her in such an inscrutable way and it was starting to make Rachel anxious. Her heart was pounding faster, if that was at all possible, but it almost stopped when she realized Quinn was slowly leaning closer. When the blonde finally paused, her lips were only an inch away and Rachel found herself subconsciously leaning forward. Right when their lips were about to make contact, Quinn pulled away, leaving Rachel even more bewildered.

"I think they're leaving," Quinn said, pulling her hand out of Rachel's.

Rachel sighed. "Yeah."

* * *

Quinn finally breathed a sigh of relief when they were safely inside the bunker at Brittany's house. She promised herself she would get everyone there alive and she had managed to do just that. Some of them were injured, but they were all alive, and that's all that really mattered in the end.

When they arrived, everyone else was inside, but Santana was still waiting near the top for them. Santana had sarcastically asked what took them so long, but she could see the look of relief on her friend's face. Everyone else was there; Blaine and Kurt had been fired at and barely escaped, but they made it. Blaine had a burn on his leg when his pants caught fire, but Kurt managed to quickly put it out, so the burn wasn't too extensive. Rachel had immediately left to check on them and Quinn was left with her best friend as she berated herself in her mind.

"What's up with you?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Nothing," Quinn lied.

Being stuck in the shed with Rachel had been torture. First the brunette was pressed up against her so closely that Quinn was afraid she could feel her heart about to beat out of her chest and then Quinn had made the stupid mistake of almost kissing her. She pulled away at the last moment, but she could tell by the look on Rachel's face that she knew what almost happened. Then they had to spend another hour in the shed in excruciating silence while Quinn stood there feeling like the world's biggest idiot. She had been so careful up until that point, and then she had to screw everything up.

When Quinn finally walked into the main part of the bunker, everyone was sitting around looking much happier than they were in Puck's basement. The room was incredibly large and people were lounging around, eating. She walked around, looking the place over; the main room was just an open space with places to sit, but there were doors. The first door she looked in was a mini warehouse that had rows and rows of food. The second room was smaller and looked like it had things such as medical supplies and toiletry items. On the opposite side of the room was a hall with five doors and behind each of them was a modestly sized bedroom with bunk beds. Quinn wondered just how much money Brittany's parents spent on this place; the Pierce family always had been a bit eccentric, though, so it was probably a small fortune.

"Quinn!" Brittany said when she finally saw the other blonde.

Quinn laughed as the other girl launched herself into her arms. "Hey, B."

"I was so scared you and Rach got caught," Brittany said, squeezing her tightly.

"We're fine," Quinn said, patting her back.

"There's something you should hear about," Puck said, walking up to them.

"What is it?" Quinn asked, pulling out of Brittany's embrace, and stepping closer to Puck.

"Mike found a CB and he's been listening to it since he got here," Puck said, taking her over to the corner of the room. "There is a lot of talk on there about forming a resistance."

"What sort of resistance," Quinn warily asked.

"A lot of people are dead, but there are still a lot left and from the sound of it, people are wanting to fight back" Puck answered. "The military is working on bringing the ships down, but there are still a bunch of aliens on the ground, which is where everyone else is coming in. Friday morning, people around the country are planning on fighting back."

"And you think we should join?" Quinn asked even though she already knew the answer.

"I'm going to," Puck stated. "I don't know about you, but I want to get some revenge and get these bastards off our planet."

"Puck—"

"They killed my best friend and who knows who else," Puck said, uncharacteristically serious. "My family, your family—we have no idea who's alive and who's dead. We don't even know if—"

"She's okay," Quinn said, feeling the string of tears at her eyes. "She has to be."

Puck nodded. "I'm just saying that—I'm going to do it. Anyone who wants to can join me, but I'm doing it."

"Have you talked to everyone else?" Quinn wondered.

"Yeah," Puck replied.

"Has anyone else decided what they're going to do?" Quinn asked.

Puck shook his head. "Not yet."

"Let me know if anyone does," Quinn requested.

* * *

Quinn was sitting on the floor with Santana on one side and Brittany on the other. It was weird that they weren't sitting next to each other, but Santana had already been sitting next to her when Brittany came over, so the blonde took the other side. Brittany had been clinging to her all day, barely letting her alone long enough to change clothes. Quinn knew it was because she had been scared and was happy she was alive, so she didn't complain. Even Santana seemed to be sticking closer to her than she normally did, and Quinn noticed Kurt doing the same thing to Rachel.

Unfortunately, the brunette was sitting across from her, so she couldn't help but look at her. She was trying not to look up, but she could feel the other girl's eyes on her and she figured she wanted an explanation for what happened—or almost happened—earlier. Rachel hadn't yet asked her, though, but Quinn knew it was only a matter of time before the topic came up. Rachel wasn't known for being patient or tactful, so Quinn was actually surprised she had been this restrained about it.

"We should do something," Tina said, breaking the silence of the room.

"Truth or dare!" Brittany excitedly said.

"Not truth or dare," Kurt replied. "Anything but truth or dare."

"Strip poker?" Puck suggested.

"I take my previous statement back," Kurt said, shaking his head.

"Why don't we simply talk," Rachel suggested.

"I like that idea much better," Kurt said.

Tina nodded in agreement. "I'm with Rachel and Kurt."

"How am I friends with you guys when you're so damn boring?" Santana asked.

"Talking isn't boring," Brittany argued. "It's nice."

"What are we going to talk about?" Marley asked.

"How about whether or not we're doing this thing Friday," Jake said.

"You know I'm in," Puck replied.

"Me too," Sam inserted.

"Tina and I are still undecided," Mike stated.

As most people nodded in agreement, Quinn looked up; she wondered what Rachel was going to do, but the brunette hadn't said anything yet and her face wasn't giving anything away.

"What about you, Q?" Puck asked, drawing her attention away from Rachel.

"I don't know yet," Quinn replied, shrugging.

"Well, we still have a day and a half to think about it," Marley added.

Everyone fell silent again; it was unlike this group to be so quiet and it was a bit unnerving for Quinn, but so much had happened over the last week. It seemed like what was happening was finally sinking in for some people. It was hard to be in denial, though, when they walked through so much of the town and saw so much destruction.

"I think we should talk about who we're worried about most," Brittany suggested.

"B, maybe that's not such a good idea," Santana whispered as she leaned behind Quinn, toward the other blonde.

"But it's Christmas and I think we should talk about the people we love," Brittany replied.

Quinn frowned; she had completely forgotten that today was Christmas Day.

"I think it's a nice idea," Rachel stated.

"I'll go first," Brittany volunteered. "I'm worried about my mom and dad and sister since they're at my aunt's house. I'm also worried about Lord Tubbington because my sister took him with her and I'm pretty sure he was abducted by aliens once already, so they're probably after him again."

"I guess I'll go next," Sam said as he stared at his feet. "Obviously I'm worried about my parents, but I'm most worried about Stevie and Stacie; I know dad will do everything he can to make my family safe, but I wish I was there with them."

Tina leaned over and gave Sam a hug. "I keep wondering if my parents are okay or if—I just hate not knowing."

Kurt nodded. "I think that's the worst part—not knowing. My dad and Carole were spending the weekend in a cabin, outside of town, so they should be safe out there." Kurt laughed lightly. "Of course, knowing my dad, he probably drove into town and is looking everywhere for me."

Jake cleared his throat. "I guess I'm just worried about my mom." He shrugged. "I don't really have any other family to worry about."

"I'm worried about my mom as well," Marley said, putting her hand over Jake's. "I just hope she's at home and that she's safe."

"To be honest, I've tried not to think of my family," Blaine said, looking around. "I know if I do, all I'll be able to do is worry about them, so I'm just not going to think about it."

"I'm not worried about anyone," Santana stated. "My family are all as awesome as me, so there's no way anything's happened to them."

"My mom and dad aren't even in the country; they're in China visiting relatives." Mike sighed and looked down. "Even if they are okay, I imagine with all the damage that it will be a while before I ever hear from them."

Puck nodded. "My mom and Abi went to Indiana last weekend to see Bubbie—they were flying back here Friday night."

Quinn and Santana looked at each other and she could see the look of sadness in her friend's eyes. They had both grown to love Puck's little sister—Quinn from when she lived with the family during her pregnancy and Santana from hanging around the house after her hookups with Puck. The little girl was a lot like her brother—mischievous and arrogant, but also charismatic and with a good heart—and she had managed to worm her way into the two girls' hearts.

At least Quinn now understood why Puck was so eager to go up against the aliens. He knew what she and Santana knew—his family was mostly likely dead. If they were in the air when this began, she doubted they stood a chance; their plane was probably shot down somewhere along the way.

"I'm worried about my dad and daddy," Rachel finally said after a few moments of silence. "And of course Artie, Mercedes, and Joe." Rachel looked down for moment and then looked up, directly at Quinn, and cleared her throat. "While I have not spoken to her since last year, I can't help but wonder if Shelby and Beth are all right; though, I know Shelby would protect Beth with her life, so I would be inclined to think they are just fine. Other than that everyone else I care about is in this room with me right now."

Everyone looked at Quinn, who was the only that had yet to speak; she didn't really want to say anything, but Santana was nudging her in the ribs, so she finally said, "Most of the people who mean the most to me are in this room." Quinn tried not to look at Rachel when she said this. "I do wonder if my mother is okay and if—if Beth is all right."

It was as much as she was willing to admit. As much as she tried not to think of and worry about her daughter, it was impossible not to. She was on her mind every night when she closed her eyes, as she had been since the day she had given birth to the little girl. Now, though, instead of wondering what she looked like or what she was learning to do at the moment, Quinn was wondering whether or not she was even alive. The one thing she took comfort in is that the little girl was with someone who loved her and would do anything to protect her.

"Well, this has been fun, but I'm hitting the sack," Puck said, standing up.

As everyone started dispersing from their little circle, Santana nudged Quinn in the rubs, and the blonde turned to her friend with a scowl on her face.

"Do you have to keep doing that?" Quinn asked, rubbing the spot.

Santana smirked. "Maybe."

Quinn tried to keep her face impassive instead of showing her annoyance. "What?"

"Just wondering if you're ever going to grow a pair and tell Berry how you feel," Santana said, shrugging.

Quinn stiffened at Santana's words. "What are you talking about?"

"Cut the bullshit, Q," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not stupid and neither are you, so stop playing dumb. You want Berry. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

"This isn't the time for this," Quinn said, getting to her feet.

"This is the perfect time for this," Santana stated. "In fact, it might be the only chance you get. In case you didn't notice, the world is going to hell and we might not have a lot of time left, so take my advice and tell Berry how you feel. Listen to me when I say you'll regret it if you don't." Santana glanced in Brittany's direction. "I regret every moment I spent being too damn afraid."

Santana gave her one last pointed look and then walked away, leaving her to her thoughts. Of course she wanted to tell Rachel, but that was easier said than done; she was going to have a lot of explaining to do for her behavior in high school and her treatment toward the short brunette. She knew she could very well be running out of time, but she just wasn't ready to tell yet, and most importantly, she didn't know if Rachel was ready to hear it.

* * *

**Reviews are always appreciated, so please leave one and make the writer very happy.**


	6. Day 6

**Ilianalovee: If it makes you feel any better, it did make me laugh.**

**Thanks to everyone that has continued to read, review, alert, favorite, etc.; only one more chapter after this, so enjoy…**

* * *

_Day 6_

"Guys!"

Rachel groaned as the pounding got loud and closer; she pulled her pillow over her head, hoping to block the sound out, but it wasn't working. She was normally up in a flash and was very much a morning person, but she felt like she had only been asleep a few hours; she had no way of knowing, though, since the battery in her phone had been dead for several days.

"Hey! Get up!"

"Puck, shut the hell up!" Santana yelled from the next room over.

Puck didn't stop knocking and it sounded like he was going from room to room, shouting for everyone to get up. After the week she'd had, Rachel just wanted to lie there for a while longer, but she threw her legs over the side of the bed, and padded over to the door. When she threw the door open, Puck was at the end of the hall, banging on the closed door.

"What is it?" Rachel sleepily asked.

"I went upstairs a—"

"Noah," Rachel interrupted, holding up her hands. "I thought we all discussed it and agreed to stay down here because we would be safer if we didn't open the door to the outside."

"I know, I know," Puck replied. "Can we forget that now? I took the binoculars and I went up there to the top of Brittany's house to see if I could see anything and my house is destroyed."

"Your—" Rachel suddenly felt like she needed to sit down. "That means—"

"That's what I'm trying to say," Puck said, and now that he looked less frantic, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

Rachel swallowed thickly. "Artie and Mercedes and Joe—"

"I know," Puck quietly replied, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Rachel backed up against the wall and slid down, so she was sitting on the hard floor. She cared when anyone lost their life, but losing Mercedes and Artie was too much for her. She started in Glee Club with them; they may not have always gotten along, but the club was like a family to her. If only the other three had gone with the rest of the group, they would be safe right now. She couldn't help but wonder if she should have said something to them; maybe if she'd tried to convince them, they would be okay right now.

"It's not your fault," Puck suddenly said as if he had read her mind.

"What?" Rachel asked, looking up.

"You have that look on your face," Puck said, kneeling in front of her and Rachel looked at him quizzically. "What? I can't notice things? I spent several years of trying to help Finn figure out what you were thinking, so I know your face better than you'd think. Right now you have that look on your face like when you were going to tell my boy something you did that he wasn't going to like. You look guilty, but you have no reason to be."

Rachel sighed and put her chin on her knees. "If I had just spoken to them—"

"It wouldn't have done anything," Puck interrupted. "Everyone made their choice."

Rachel shook her head slightly. "I know that." She wiped at the tears that were falling down her cheeks. "I just hate feeling so helpless—I hate that I keep losing people I love and there's nothing I can do about it."

"I know, babe," Puck said, looking down. "I know."

"What's going on?" Kurt asked and Rachel looked up to find her friend rubbing her eyes, his brows furrowed in concern.

"My house is gone," Puck answered.

"Gone," Kurt repeated. "As in—gone?"

Puck nodded. "It's totally destroyed."

Kurt leaned against the wall just like Rachel had and slid down, so he was sitting next to her. "Do you think anyone made it? I mean, they were in the basement; maybe they were safe down there."

"It's possible," Puck replied.

Rachel could tell by the tone of his voice that Puck didn't really think it was possible, but Kurt didn't need to know that. If he could hold onto some hope that his friends were still alive, she wasn't going to take that away from him by pointing out it was highly unlikely for anyone to survive.

"I'm gonna try to get the rest of these losers up," Puck said, standing up.

Rachel leaned her head on Kurt's shoulder as she listened to Puck pounding on another door. She could finally no longer keep her tears at bay and let them fall freely. Kurt kissed the top of her head and then leaned his cheek against the spot. After a moment, she wrapped her arms around his waist and he put his around her shoulders. The two friends sat there and held each other as their other friends finally started opening their doors for Puck.

* * *

Everyone had been sitting around in relative silence for several hours as they let Puck's information sink in. There had been lots of hugs and tears from some people, but others almost seemed numb from the news. Nineteen of them had attended Puck's party only five days ago, but now there were only twelve in this room, and they were most likely the only ones that were still alive. It was hard for Rachel to wrap her head around that fact, but she knew it was probably the case.

Mike cleared his throat. "I'm going with Puck tomorrow."

It was the first thing anyone had spoken in over an hour, but no one really looked up at Mike's words.

"Me too," Jake said.

"Dude, we've talked about this," Puck said, scowling.

"I don't care if I'm hurt," Jake replied. "If you're going out there, I'm going out there."

"You know I'm always up for a fight," Santana said, smirking.

Brittany frowned. "If San's going, I'm going."

At the blonde's statement, Santana looked like she had been knocked over the head. "Wait—what?"

"If you're going, I'm going," Brittany repeated.

"Britt—"

"I'm not letting you be alone out there," Brittany whispered, but it was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Santana looked like she was reconsidering everything, but she closed her mouth and remained silent; her brows furrowed together and she looked like she was deep in thought. Rachel wondered if Brittany was actually prepared to go or if she just didn't want Santana to go and knew her well enough to know that Santana would never let her be in danger.

"I'm in," Tina and Kurt said simultaneously.

Mike reached over and took Tina's hand as she added, "Mercedes was my best friend and Artie was—" She smiled softly. "I loved them both and I don't want this to happen to anyone else."

Kurt nodded. "What Tina said."

Rachel was a little surprised because she and Kurt had not discussed it, but at the same time, she wasn't surprised. She figured many of them in the room were feeling the same thing; they wanted to either get revenge for their friends or stop even more people from dying. For her it was the latter. While she was certainly sad and even angry that her friends were gone, she wasn't the type of person to seek revenge; she just wanted this nightmare to end.

"Enough lives have already been lost and I think it's time we try and end this," Blaine replied. "So, I will be joining you."

"Me too," Marley added. "You guys might be all I have left in the world and if you all are going, I'm going."

"Damn right, we got each other's backs," Puck said, holding out his fist; Marley just looked at him strangely and Puck sighed. "This is where we bump fists."

"Oh!" Marley said, laughing at herself, and touching her fist to Puck's.

Rachel glanced at Quinn and wondered what was going through her mind; the blonde always seemed to be the last to respond and had been especially quite in the last few days. She also wasn't sure if she was being paranoid or not, but Quinn appeared to be avoiding her and couldn't even seem to want to look at her.

"I guess I shall go too," Rachel replied, smiling at her friends. "I can't let you guys have all the fun."

Kurt laughed, putting his arm around her, and she leaned into his side.

"What about you, baby mama?" Puck asked, nudging Quinn.

Quinn looked at Rachel for a moment and then back to Puck. "Someone has to look after you, so I guess I have to go."

Puck laughed and ruffled the blonde's hair, which she looked none too happy about. "You know, if you want another ride on the—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Puck," Quinn said, slapping him upside the head.

"I'm just saying," Puck said, shrugging, and then looking at Santana and Brittany and grinning.

"If you say one word, I will neuter you," Santana said before Puck could make a lewd comment.

Puck sighed and stood up and slouched away before calling over his shoulder, "Someone help me grab the carry the alcohol."

"Now can we play truth or dare!" Brittany asked, clapping her hands together.

Rachel knew this was likely to be the group's last night together and she was going to make the most of it. That didn't mean she was going to get drunk, but she did want to have fun with her friends one last time and if that meant playing truth or dare to make Brittany happy, then so be it.

* * *

"I must be really drunk," Tina said, walking into the main room. "I hear Artie talking in the bedroom.

"Huh, I thought I hear him too," Blaine said, scratching his head.

Rachel frowned and looked toward the hall; she stood up, dodged Mike, who nearly back into her, and walked towards the bedrooms. She stood in the hall for a moment when she heard it—and it did sound like Artie. She opened the door the sound was coming from and stepped into the room.

"Can anyone hear me?"

Rachel's head whipped toward the bed and she walked over to the CB radio Mike had been messing with. She wasn't quite sure how the thing worked, but she went up to it, grabbed the thing that looked sort of like a microphone, and pushed the button on the side.

"Hello?" Rachel said, unsure of the proper protocol.

"Hello?" Came across the radio.

"Artie?" Rachel asked.

There was a pause been then the voice said, "Rachel?"

"Oh my god, we thought you were dead," Rachel said, putting her hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Right after you guys left, I tried to follow you and catch up, but I couldn't find you," Artie replied. "I started heading back to Puck's but I saw a ship in the sky and went to the nearest house. I started banging on the door and the people that live there let me in." She heard him sigh. "I saw what happened to Puck's house."

"The others were still there?" Rachel asked, dreading the answer.

"Yes," Artie replied after a few beats.

Rachel hung her head, but jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder; she looked behind her to find Quinn standing there and the blonde gave her a sad smile.

"At least you're okay," Rachel replied, sniffing.

"I'm lucky," Artie stated.

Both sides fell silent; Rachel was torn between sadness and thinking about Mercedes and Joe again, but the other part of her was happy because Artie was alive. Quinn remained behind her, hand still on her shoulder, and Rachel appreciated the gesture.

"I've been hearing a lot of chatter on the radio about tomorrow morning," Artie finally said, breaking several minutes of silence. "Is anyone there planning on joining the resistance?"

"We all are," Rachel replied.

There was a pause and then Artie asked, "Seriously? All of you?"

"Yes, all of us," Rachel replied.

"Did everyone—did you all make it?" Artie asked.

Rachel smiled to herself. "Yes, we all made it to Brittany's; a few people were injured, but overall, we're just fine."

"Can I speak with Puck?" Artie asked.

"I'll go get him," Rachel replied. "Although, I will warn you—he is a little drunk at this point." Artie laughed and Rachel smiled. "I'm glad you're okay, Artie."

"So am I," Artie replied and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"I'll get Puck," Quinn said, turning and walked away.

It was less than a minute and there was a huge commotion in the other room, presumably from Quinn telling their friends the news. Sure enough, a few seconds after that and Puck, Sam, Mike, and Tina all came running into the room. Rachel stood up from the bed, getting out of their way, so they could talk to the boy on the other end.

"Artie, dude!" Puck said, smiling.

"Hey, Puck," Artie replied.

Rachel didn't hear the rest of the conversation; instead, she excused herself and went to find Kurt. Since he wasn't in the main room, she went to the room they were sharing and sure enough, he was sitting on the top bunk, his chin resting in his hands.

"What are you doing in here?" Rachel asked.

"Brittany was trying to get us to play strip poker," Kurt informed her. "I don't know if she knows what it is, but she got the idea from Puck."

Rachel smiled. "Did you hear the news?"

"What?" Kurt asked looking up.

"Artie is alive," Rachel stated.

Kurt's jaw dropped. "How?"

"He tried to catch up with us but couldn't," Rachel said, shaking her head. "He had to take refuge at a house, so he wasn't in Puck's basement when it happened. He was calling over the CB."

"That's wonderful," Kurt said, smiling.

Rachel nodded in agreement

Kurt's smile dropped off his face and he was looking at her seriously. "Are you sure about tomorrow?"

"Are you having second thoughts?" Rachel wondered.

Kurt shook his head. "I'm just making sure _you're_ ready for it."

Rachel sighed. "I'm probably as ready as you are; neither of us are violent people and we could very well die tomorrow, but—if we don't do anything, we'll be dead eventually, anyway. I know we could survive here for quite some time, but we are going to run out of food and water sooner or later. Besides, I would rather not spend the remainder of my time in this bunker; you know how I feel about performing, and I fear if I start singing down here, Santana will throw me outside."

"Then I only have one more question," Kurt replied. "Are you going to tell Quinn?"

Rachel opened her mouth, but then closed it and shook her head.

Kurt sighed. "Why not?"

"There's no point," Rachel replied, shrugging.

"Of course there's a point," Kurt said, tilting his head as he looked at her.

"Finn just died—"

"And you have been over Finn for months," Kurt interrupted. "Would he have been happy about this? No, but you can't feel guilty for that."

Rachel sighed. "I know that, but what if—"

"No buts," Kurt interrupted again.

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms, but she knew Kurt was right. She needed to tell Quinn tonight because if, god forbid, she or Quinn were to not make it tomorrow, she didn't want this to be her biggest regret.

* * *

Quinn was lying on the bottom bunk, staring at the bed above her, listening to the sounds of her friends. Quite a few of them were drinking like it was their last night on Earth, but then again, it very well could be. She just hoped Santana and Brittany didn't come stumbling into the room, forgetting she was in there; she didn't want to spend what was potentially her last night listening to the two of them.

"Quinn."

The blonde jumped at the sound of Rachel's voice and she looked up to find the other girl just inside the door, looking at her.

"Hey," Quinn said, putting her head back on the pillow.

"Can we talk?" Rachel asked, sounding nervous.

Quinn's heart started beating faster as she looked up again. "What about?"

"I just—" Rachel turned around and shut the door behind her before turning to face Quinn again. "I don't want to die tomorrow with any more regrets. I've always prided myself on trying not to regret anything and I know if I don't get this out, it'll be my biggest regret yet. Even bigger than not listening to you, which I actually would like to apologize for. You were right when you said I shouldn't marry Finn, but I went along with it because I didn't think I had anything else at the time and I didn't think anyone else could love me like he did. I was wrong on both accounts, though, and I'm glad I realized it before I made the biggest mistake of my life. I'm also sorry that I didn't try harder to be your friend in high school, especially at the start of our senior year when you needed someone the most; I could see how much you were hurting I should have tried harder to do something about it. I know, though, if I don't finally tell you how I feel, I will regret it more than either of those things, which is why I'm standing her, rambling to you right now."

"What are you saying?" Quinn asked, fully sitting up now.

"I'm saying—I'm saying that I—"

Quinn had never seen Rachel look this nervous before and she thought her heart might beat out of her chest as she wondered if Rachel was saying what she thought she might be saying. The brunette looked like she was about to flee, though, so Quinn stood and took the three steps toward Rachel. Their eyes were locked on to one another's and for once in her life, Quinn decided to take a chance.

When their lips met, Quinn tried to suppress the moan that was already trying to escape at the feeling of Rachel's lips on hers. She had been waiting for this moment for so long and now that she finally had Rachel Berry in her arms, it felt surreal. She could have been very wrong about what Rachel was trying to say to her, but she took it as a good sign that the brunette wasn't trying to pull away and was actually kissing her back. The kiss, though, was over far too quickly for Quinn, and she found herself staring into Rachel's deep brown eyes.

"Is that what you were trying to say?" Quinn asked, taking a deep breath.

"Yes," Rachel said, grabbing her around the back of her neck, and pulling them together again.

The brunette was pushing Quinn back toward the bed and it took Quinn's brain a moment to catch up with what was happening. When the back of her knees hit the edge of the mattress, though, she quickly extracted herself from Rachel's arms and took a few steps to the side.

"Wait," Quinn said, taking a deep breath.

Rachel immediately froze and looked panicked. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong."

Quinn shook her head. "No, don't—it's not that." She rubbed her face and sighed.

"Then what is it?" Rachel softly asked. "I haven't consumed any alcohol if that's what you're concerned about."

Quinn shook her head; she had been watching Rachel most of the night, so she knew she hadn't drunk anything. "Finn."

Rachel's forehead momentarily creased at the mention of his name, but then she cleared her throat and said, "I know most people would probably think that it is too soon, but Finn and I have been over for quite some time. A part of me will always love him because he was my first love, but I'm not going to let that stop me from moving on. Tonight may be our last night and I don't want to spend another moment without you knowing the truth." Rachel smiled to herself for a moment and then looked at Quinn again. "How you didn't figure out that I had a massive crush on you during our sophomore year, I will never know."

Quinn's jaw dropped. "What? But you were all over Finn."

"That is true," Rachel agreed. "I liked both of you, but I thought you hated me, so I went after the person I actually had a chance with. After a while I thought my feelings for you had completely vanished, but it was when we were in the bathroom and you told me I couldn't marry Finn that I realized they hadn't. Still, I was with Finn and did love him, so I tried to ignore anything I felt for you. You didn't make it easy, though; for the first time, I actually felt like you cared about me. When Finn and I finally ended our engagement, I thought about telling you, but I didn't think there was any reason to do so, and I didn't want to risk ruining the friendship we had finally built."

Quinn took a deep breath and then started laughing. "So, this whole time, huh?"

Rachel smiled and nodded. "This whole time."

"We've wasted a lot of time, haven't we?" Quinn said, shaking her head.

"And it only took an alien invasion for us to finally realize it," Rachel replied.

Quinn watched as Rachel stepped closer to her; she closed her eyes the moment before Rachel's lips connected with hers and waited in anticipation, relishing the feeling when their lips finally melded together. The brunette's lips were incredibly soft—softer than any of the guys she had kissed—and had a faint vanilla taste to them. Despite the fact that they had limited time, Quinn was determined to go at a slow pace; she figured they had all night, which she was going to make full use of since it could be their one and only together.

She didn't object when Rachel pulled on her waist and led them toward the bed. When she reached the edge, she sat down on the bed, pulling Quinn down with her. Rachel's tongue effortless glided against hers until the brunette pulled back slightly and nipped at Quinn's bottom lip. She smiled at the action and then her breath hitched as the other girl turned her attention to the blonde's neck. As Rachel made her way up to Quinn's jaw, the she tried to remember the last time she felt like this—the last time something felt so right. She couldn't really think of anything, though; most of her life had been about doing what was expected of her, not about doing what felt right. It was the very reason it had taken years for this moment to finally happen.

"What are you thinking about?" Rachel whispered into her ear.

Quinn looked down, into Rachel's eyes, and smiled. "You."

Rachel scooted further back, lying down; Quinn climbed onto the bed, straddling Rachel, her hands on either side of the brunette's head. Rachel had her hands wrapped around the back of Quinn's neck and was pulling her closer, crashing their lips together. Quinn's heart was beating rapidly in her chest, and she already felt her resolve slipping; she wanted to go slow, but with the way Rachel was looking at her and touching her, it was making it very difficult.

If she were to say she wasn't nervous, it would be a complete lie. One drunken mistake with Puck didn't exactly make her experienced and she had even less experience with another female. She knew Rachel was in the same position, so she didn't feel quite as self-conscious about it; though, Rachel didn't exactly seem nervous to her at the moment.

Rachel had her hands at the hem of Quinn's shirt and the blonde hesitantly lifted her arms, letting the other girl take it off. Out of habit, she tried to cover her stomach with her hands, but Rachel grabbed them, stopping her.

"You're perfect, Quinn," Rachel whispered, looking into her eyes. "You've always been perfect."

As a Fabray, she was never great about expressing her feelings. Right now, she wanted to say so much, but she didn't know how to properly put any of it into words, so she leaned down and kissed Rachel, hoping to convey everything she didn't know how to say.

Rachel slipped her hands from the back of Quinn's neck to her shoulder blades and then trailed down the straps of her bra to the clasp. Before Quinn even realized it, her bra was discarded and Rachel was flipping her onto her back. She had never really seen Rachel this take charge before—unless it came to Glee—but she was finding it quite sexy at the moment.

The brunette was trailing kisses down her body and didn't even hesitate when she hit the top of Quinn's shorts. Instead, she leaned back, put her hands at the band, slowly pulled them down Quinn's legs, and off her body. All thoughts of going slow flew from Quinn's mind as she reached out and yanked Rachel's shirt over her head. The moment it was over her head, Rachel was reattaching her lips to Quinn's and running her hands down the blonde's sides.

Quinn groaned as Rachel nipped at her lip and then made the trek down her body again. This time, though, Rachel stopped at her chest and she could feel the brunette's breath on her. Right when she was about to look up to see why the other girl stopped, she felt Rachel's wet tongue circling her nipple, and let out a small gasp in surprise. Quinn was becoming more and more wet as Rachel went from one nipple to the other, kissing and licking every inch of skin along the way.

When Rachel finally raised her head, Quinn wanted to guide her back down to continue what she was doing, but instead, she looked up to find the brunette looking at her, her eyes a shade darker than usual. Their eyes were still locked on each other's when Rachel grabbed the band of her underwear and pulled them down her body. She watched as Rachel came back up, giving her a chaste kiss in the lips, and made her way back down.

Rachel parted her legs and Quinn moaned loudly, gripping the sheets, when Rachel's wet tongue hit her already throbbing center. The brunette continued her actions and Quinn tried not to scream out; the door didn't have a lock on it and the last thing she wanted was for someone to come in to check on them. Rachel obviously didn't care about this, though, because Quinn was convinced the brunette was doing everything she could to make her scream. As the orgasm reached a crescendo, Quinn couldn't but finally cry out in pleasure.

Quinn closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath as she released the sheets from her grip. After a few seconds, she opened them and found herself staring into Rachel's dark irises.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, putting her hand to Quinn's cheek, and wiping away a tear the blonde didn't even realize was there.

Quinn nodded and whispered, "Perfect."

Rachel was smiling, but squealed in surprise when Quinn flipped her over and her back hit the mattress.

Quinn was smirking down at her. "You have far too many clothes on."

She may feel like she had no idea what she was doing, but that wasn't going to stop her from learning. After all, they had the rest of the night, and she always prided herself on perfecting everything she did.

* * *

…**So…yeah…reviews are good!**


	7. Day 7

**Izabella G. D: I'm happy it didn't end so I could write the final chapter…I literally just finished it.**

**Last chapter, so enjoy…**

* * *

_Day 7_

Rachel slowly awoke and nuzzled into what she thought was her pillow; it took her a few seconds to realize it wasn't her pillow, but Quinn's neck. She lifted her head and looked down, realizing she was sprawled out on the other girl. When she looked up, Quinn was looking at her with an amused look on her face and a sparkle in her hazel eyes.

"Good morning," Rachel said, blushing.

"Hi," Quinn whispered, moving the strand of hair that had fallen in Rachel's face.

Rachel laid her head back down and snuggled back into Quinn; she didn't know what time it was, but considering how late they were up, she imagined it was fairly late in the morning. She knew these could be her last few hours with Quinn, so she wasn't about to get out of bed until she absolutely had to. Part of her wanted to beg Quinn to change her mind about going so the two of them could stay safe in the bunker, but she knew she couldn't do that and it wouldn't be fair to ask the blonde.

"What time is it?" Rachel asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"Almost nine," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed but nodded. "Okay."

They had one hour.

"Are you having second thoughts?' Quinn asked, rubbing her back

"Yes," Rachel admitted. "But I know it's the right thing to do; I would be lying if I said a part of me didn't want to stay down here, with you, for as long as possible, but this is bigger than us."

"I know the feeling," Quinn said, kissing her forehead.

Rachel smiled to herself; it was a little strange being in Quinn's arms, but strange in a good way. She just never imagined this day would actually come and she almost wanted to pinch herself to make sure it wasn't a dream. If it was, though, she didn't want to wake up from it because she had never been more content in her life. Despite what was about to happen in only a few short hours, she was happy—happier than she'd felt in a very long time.

"What are you thinking right now?" Quinn asked, running her hands along Rachel's cheek.

"How happy I am," Rachel said, kissing the pad of Quinn's thumb when it ran along her bottom lip.

Quinn smiled. "So, what do you want to do when this is all over with?"

"A lot more of this," Rachel replied.

"Lying in bed, naked?" Quinn asked.

Rachel laughed lightly. "I do, yes; however, that wasn't what I was talking about. I meant simply being together, in whatever capacity that may be."

"I want to go on a date," Quinn stated. "Some place nice. It'll probably be a while before that happens, but at least it'll give me time to think of something spectacular."

"Spectacular, huh?" Rachel said, grinning.

"Well, you deserve the best," Quinn replied.

Rachel leaned down, kissed Quinn, and then pulled back. "You know I'd be okay with wherever you chose to take me."

Quinn smiled. "So, if I took you bowling and to McDonald's, you'd be completely fine with that?"

"Okay, I lied," Rachel said, laying her head on Quinn's chest.

"I know," Quinn said, chuckling.

Rachel was playing with Quinn's hand and wondering why they wasted so much time. Rachel had always gone after everything she wanted, expect when it came to the former Cheerio. She was always too afraid to admit her feelings out loud, only confiding in Kurt a few weeks ago about how she had always felt for the blonde. Even now if this had never happened, she didn't know if she ever would have told Quinn the truth. It was only when everything might be coming to an end that she knew she finally had to admit everything to her. They could have had years together, but now they may not even have a day, and Rachel would do anything to be able to change that right now.

"How long do you think we have before someone barges in here?" Quinn asked.

"Thirty minutes, tops," Rachel replied.

"It'll probably be Santana," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "Although, she could be too busy with Brittany to bother embarrassing me."

Rachel laughed. "Are you saying she knows what was taking place in this room last night?"

"Probably," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I never told her how I feel for you, but she's been dropping hints about it for the past year. I'm actually surprised she's been so restrained about it."

"I've never known Santana to be restrained about anything," Rachel commented.

"Me either," Quinn replied. "Maybe she remembers what it was like, though; she was too afraid to be with Brittany for so long. She knows what it's like to be in love with someone, but to not be able to tell them."

Rachel's head snapped up. "Did you just say—?"

Quinn was blushing. "I—" Quinn cleared her throat. "I really wanted to say that in a much more romantic way the first time."

Rachel shook her head as she put her hands on Quinn's cheeks and pulled her into a searing kiss. Quinn moaned as their tongues collided and danced together, and Rachel had to stop herself from smiling at eliciting such a sound from the blonde.

"Dios mío, my eyes."

Rachel and Quinn pulled apart, both trying to cover themselves up as quickly as they could. Santana had her hand over her eyes and a look of horror on her face.

"Thanks for knocking," Quinn said, glaring daggers at her friend while putting her bra back on.

Rachel didn't bother looking for her clothes; instead, she just held the sheet to her chest and watched the other two in amusement. It was funny to her how Quinn could go from being completely sweet to her, to looking like she was about to murder someone.

"Are you dressed yet?" Santana asked, huffing.

"You could leave, you know?" Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Santana peaked through her fingers and then removed her hand, smirking.

Quinn glared at her even more. "What?"

"I've been watching you drool over the midget for years, so I have to ask— was it good at least?" Santana said, grinning

"Out," Quinn said, pointing toward the open door.

"You'd think finally getting some would make you a little less uptight," Santana commented.

"Oh my god," Quinn said, walking over to her, and pushing her out of the room.

"If either of you ever want any tips, let me know," Santana said, laughing loudly as Quinn shut the door in her face.

"Come here," Rachel said, beckoning Quinn over.

"What?" Quinn asked as Rachel leaned up and wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck.

"I just thought we could enjoy this last hour," Rachel replied.

* * *

When Rachel walked into the main room a little later, she noticed Brittany looking at her, smiling widely, and bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. It was obvious Santana had told her what she'd witnessed, but the blonde seemed much happier about it than her counterpart. Quinn followed a few moments later and ran her hand along Rachel's back as she walked by. The blonde glanced over her shoulder, giving her a smile, and Rachel felt her heart skip a beat.

"Okay, Mike has been listening to the CB all morning and Operation Kill Things and Be Awesome As Always is a go," Puck stated.

"Operation Kill Things and Be Awesome As Always?" Kurt asked.

Puck grinned. "Yeah, aka Operation Puckerman."

Kurt raised his eyebrow.

"You try thinking of a better name," Puck said, scowling. "Alright, in fifteen minutes we're going out there and kicking any alien's ass that we find. We're going to be in pairs and I want you to stay with your teammate at all times. There's word that the military is going to be bombing the hell out of the spaceships, so those shouldn't be a problem for us. It'll be the things on the ground that you've got to worry about."

"How do you expect us to 'kick alien ass'?" Kurt asked, using air quotes.

"Brittany's parents have a shit ton of weapons in the room off from the pantry," Puck replied. "I guess I should have told you that earlier.

"Maybe," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"Right, well, we have a ton of weapons and stuff, so hopefully we can take some of these things down," Puck said, shrugging. "Any questions?"

Rachel furrowed her brows and looked toward Quinn, wondering if the blonde thought this sounded as terrible of a plan as it did to her. She noticed that no one else looked particularly impressed and several people looked like they were in deep thought, maybe trying to think of a plan of their own.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Santana asked. "Because this is the worst plan I have ever heard."

Quinn stepped forward. "Okay, here's the plan. We'll split up into groups of four, so we're better protected. Each group will have someone that is more experienced with shooting a gun. Mike, Tina, Sam, and Marley will be group one. Group two will be Blaine, Kurt, Puck, and Jake. Santana, Britt, and Rachel will be with me in group three. Mike, is there any information about what's going on or how many people are going to do this?"

"A lot of people are talking about fighting back, so I don't think we're going to be alone," Mike replied. "A lot of people have taken refuge in the basement, at the high school, and it sounds like Sue Sylvester is leading them into battle."

"Knowing her, she's probably been stockpiling weapons at the school for years, just in case something like this happened," Santana commented. "How many lectures did we hear about what to do if the Canadians invaded?"

"Okay, at least we won't be alone, then," Quinn replied. "We have to assume we're going to be alone here, though; there are only a few houses in the vicinity, and we have no way of knowing if anyone is even in those houses. How reliable is it that we're going to have air support?"

"It could be just a rumor, but people are saying other have heard chatter about them asking for civilian assistance," Mike said, shrugging. "People are saying that soldiers have been sent into the bigger cities, to try to secure them, but there are only so many of them, and this is going on across the country."

Quinn nodded and then looked around. "If anyone wants to change their mind, now is the time to do it." When no one said anything, Quinn glanced at Rachel, giving her a sad smile. "Okay, guys, we're leaving here in a few minutes. Puck, show everyone where they can find their weapons."

Puck nodded. "Come on, guys."

Everyone else filed through the food pantry, but Rachel stayed behind. Quinn still hadn't moved and was watching their friends go into the other room. When Rachel approached her, the blonde looked at her and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head. "I keep wondering who I'm never going to see again."

"You can't think like that," Rachel said, rubbing her hands up and down Quinn's arms.

"It's hard not to," Quinn replied.

"I know," Rachel whispered, reaching for Quinn's hand. "Come on; let's get suited up."

* * *

"So," Kurt said as he pulled on a pair of boots that were very much not his style.

"Yes?" Rachel asked, buttoning a jacket over her tank top.

Rachel was thankful Brittany's family had a room full of clothes; she didn't think the skirt and heels she'd worn to Puck's party would be the best outfit to fight aliens in. Now, the whole group was putting on cargo pants, tank tops, combat boots, and jackets. Of course, Kurt had complained about the clothing, and she noticed him defiantly keeping his designer shirt on under his jacket.

"I noticed you coming out of Quinn's room this morning," Kurt commented. "I take it things went well."

Rachel smiled to herself as she did the last button. "It went quite well, yes."

Kurt narrowed his eyes at her. "Rachel Berry, you better give your best friend details when we come back."

"I will," Rachel said, nodding. "May I inquire what you did last night?"

She saw Kurt look at Blaine and smile.

"Never mind," Rachel said with a laugh. "I think I can guess how your night went."

"I'm not saying things are going to go back to the way they were, but," Kurt sighed, "I love him and there's no other way I wanted to spend what could be my last night on Earth."

It was funny how people could go through life, knowing what was important to them, but not really doing anything about it. She saw it all around her as couples got back together, finally realizing that whatever differences they had were no longer important when you love someone. She imagined almost all of her friends spent the night exactly as she had—with the person that was most important to them.

"Are we ready?" Puck asked. "It's time."

Kurt and Rachel gave each other one last look and then Kurt joined Blaine on the other side of the room. Rachel looked at the floor and sighed, not knowing if she was ready for this.

"You can change your mind, you know."

Rachel smiled at the sound of Quinn's voice. "I know."

"But you're not going to," Quinn said, nodding.

Rachel shook her head and Quinn sighed. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment and then Quinn slowly leaning in, pressing her lips to Rachel's. The brunette was slightly surprised that Quinn was kissing her when all their friends were just on the other side of the room, but she didn't mind. She put her hands on the blonde's waist and reveled in the feeling. The moment was short lived, though, because Puck was calling everyone to get ready. Rachel sadly parted from Quinn, and the blonde entwined their fingers together, leading them toward the stairs.

* * *

It took Quinn's eyes a moment to adjust to the bright morning light; the bunker had been dim, but the sun was out in full force. Rachel was on one side of her and Santana the other, and the twelve friends were standing in a line, looking around. They all had their weapons at the ready, but so far there was nothing around. The house closest to Brittany's had been destroyed sometime after they had entered the bunker and was now nothing but a shell of a house, ravaged by fire.

"We should probably split up," Sam suggested.

"Good idea," Puck said. "Okay, my group with me."

Quinn turned toward Sam. "You guys head toward the woods, but be careful."

Sam nodded. "You guys be careful too."

He gave them a wide smile and Tina gave them a sad wave while Blaine and Kurt both gave Rachel a long hug; it was obvious everyone knew this could be the last time they were going to see each other. Before they left the bunker, they had group hug, much like the ones they had before their competitions during their years in Glee. Instead of heading off to sing and dance, though, they were essentially heading to war.

"Okay, my group follow me and keep close," Quinn said, turning to head in other direction, toward what looked to be a subdivision in the distance, beyond the field.

"One second," Kurt said, grabbing her by the arm, and pulling her several yards away.

"What are you doing?" Quinn asked, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

"Promise me that you will look after Rachel," Kurt whispered, looking at her in complete seriousness. "I want to know that you will do everything you can to protect her."

"Until my last breath," Quinn replied without hesitation.

Kurt nodded, seeming satisfied with her response. "Okay then—you may go."

Quinn just shook her head and started walking; she knew Kurt was only trying to look after his best friend and she actually appreciated the fact that she wasn't the only one that loved the brunette. It wasn't that Rachel wasn't tough, because she definitely was in many ways, but she knew Rachel was not a violent person in any way. A huge part of her was hoping Rachel would change her mind and stay behind, but once the brunette set her mind on something, she usually didn't back down. The other part of her was happy to have Rachel nearby, though; it was comforting to her and every time Rachel smiled her way, it made her much more sure about what they were doing. She wanted to have a future with Rachel—one that didn't involve them being confined to an enclosed space for the rest of their lives.

As they walked across the field, Quinn kept her eyes peeled, and her gun at the ready. Santana was doing the same thing as her, but Brittany and Rachel looked much more unsure of the weapon in their hands. Puck had given everyone the basics on handling and firing a gun since most of them had never done so before, and Quinn just hoped it was enough.

Quinn suddenly heard a strange noise and she stopped in her tracks, bringing everyone else to a halt. The other three were looking around, so she knew she wasn't the only one that had heard the fluttering noise. She heard a shout in the distance followed by some gunfire and knew one of the other groups must have found something. Her first instinct was to run towards the noise to help, but they were supposed to be fanning out; she just had to trust that they could handle themselves, but that was easier said than done when it was her friends.

"There's something flying this way," Brittany said as she looked toward the sky.

Everyone else looked to the sky and Quinn shielded her eyes from the sun; sure enough, there was something flying toward them.

"What the hell is that?" Santana asked.

"Umm, I think it's an alien," Rachel stated.

"Oh shit," Santana said.

Santana fired few shots, but they missed; it got the alien's attention, though, and it made a beeline right for them. Santana swore again and shot at the thing again, hitting it this time, and causing it to fall to the ground. Quinn cautiously made her way over to the fallen alien and nudged it with her boot to make sure it was really dead. She had never seen anything like it before; it was dark yellow in color and like the ones that attacked them before, it almost looked like a giant bug.

Directly behind her she suddenly heard shots again, followed by a squeak, and a thud. She whipped her head around to find Rachel sitting on the ground and Brittany with a bemused expression on her face.

"What happened?" Quinn asked, putting her arms under Rachel's, and pulling her to her feet.

"She shot an alien," Brittany answered.

Quinn followed the blonde's gaze and saw there was another one lying on the ground, just like the one right behind them.

"I apologize, but I saw it and panicked," Rachel replied. "I have never fired a gun before and I was unprepared for it, which is why I feel on my butt." Rachel blushed.

Santana laughed. "At least you got it, Berry."

Rachel smiled, but it was short-lived, because a moment later, they heard more shouting and gunfire. They all turned toward the source of the noise, but they couldn't see either of the groups at this point.

"Let's keep looking," Quinn said, turning away.

"But our friends might be hurt," Brittany said, pouting.

"We know that, B, but we agreed to split up," Santana said, rubbing the blonde's back.

Santana took Brittany's hand and the four continued walking. Quinn was scanning the sky every few moments, making sure they weren't about to be attacked. There was nothing around, but the open field, though. She could see the row of houses a little clearer now; most of them were still intact, but one had a hole in its roof while another looked like the right side had completely collapsed into the rest of the house.

"Looks like we're not alone," Santana said, nodding a bit to the left.

Quinn looked and saw that there were other people, near the houses, fighting an alien that was different than the ones they had seen so far. It was large, but not as large as the one that had her and Rachel hiding in the shed.

"Should we see if they need any help?" Rachel asked.

"I—"

"Incoming," Santana interrupted, pointing her gun to the sky.

Quinn pointed her gun in the same direction and the two started firing; there were a half dozen of the aliens flying toward them. Two of them went down quickly, but the other four flew off in opposite directions making it more difficult. Rachel was now shooting at them as well, but Brittany was just standing there, watching everything. She heard much more gunfire than just theirs and she glanced to her left where she could see people running, but she couldn't tell which group it was. Instead of worrying about it, though, she tried focusing back on the task at hand. She could see two of the flying things headed in her direction, another one was lying on the ground now, and she lost track of the forth one.

"Behind you," Rachel yelled, pushing her to the side.

Quinn hit the ground just as the alien hit Rachel; Santana wasted no time in shooting the thing off her, and Quinn sprung to her feet, running over to make sure the brunette was all right.

"Rach!" Quinn said, looking the girl up and down for any sign of trauma.

"I'm fine," Rachel said, sitting up, and rubbing her shoulder.

Quinn helped the brunette up, still looking her up and down to make sure she wasn't bleeding or anything. When she was satisfied that Rachel actually was okay like she said, she put her hands on her cheeks, cupping her.

"Not to break up the lovefest, but we've got company," Santana said, nudging Quinn in the ribs.

Quinn turned around and saw more aliens coming from the side; there was a small herd of the small aliens they encountered the first night while trying to make it to Brittany's house. Santana was already shooting in their direction and even Brittany had her gun pointed at them.

The only good thing about these aliens was that they were fairly easy to take down, which Quinn actually found a little odd. Considering they had come from light years away, she expected them to be more technologically advanced than they were. They didn't seem very intelligent, though, and she wondered if it was because they were just foot soldiers that were doing the bidding of whatever was flying the spaceships.

There were more shouts and screams off in the distance and Quinn raised her gun, shooting at the approaching aliens. Even when she shot the small aliens, though, it didn't always stop them, just slowed them down. They seemed much more resilient than the ones that were flying through the air, taking multiple shots before they finally hit the ground. Eventually the four of them were firing their guns, though, Brittany looked horrified by it and fell backwards, just like Rachel had the first time.

Quinn started reloading her gun as fast as possible; several of them were getting too close for Quinn's comfort and before she knew it, they were leaping through the air at them. One of them landed on Santana knocking her to the ground and the other knocked Quinn to the ground, getting thrown to the side in the process. The blonde was able to hold onto her gun during the fall and shot it before it had the chance to attack her again. Santana was still grappling with the one on top of her until Rachel hit it with the butt of her gun. Her friend was bleeding from her arm, but otherwise seemed okay; at least she was able to stand up on her own.

Brittany now looked determined and started shooting at the remaining aliens, taking several of them down with ease. Quinn was slightly surprised, but if there was one thing Brittany didn't like in this world, it was the thought of something happening to Santana. With the help of the blonde, the four of them dispatched of the remaining aliens and Quinn breathed a sigh of relief that they had made it through another group of aliens without any getting seriously hurt.

"Oh no!" Brittany said, putting her hands to her mouth. "We need to help them."

Before anyone could object or even know what the blonde was talking about, she was already running across the field. Santana immediately took off after her and Quinn and Rachel were left with no option but to follow as well. As she started running, she realized Brittany was heading toward one of the aliens that had her trapped in the shed. She was running as fast as her legs would carry her, but they were so far away that it felt like it was taking forever. Her legs were burning by the time she was halfway there and she found herself wishing she had spent more time exercising when she got to Yale.

Sam was on the ground, firing his weapon at the massive beast, which was heading directly for Tina. Marley was off to the side, loading her gun, but she seemed to be having problems with it. She couldn't tell where Mike was until he came running from the other side and shoved Tina out of the way. She wanted to shout for him to look out, but before the words had even formed, the alien hand flung Mike thirty feet through the air. Santana stopped and was shooting the monster and Quinn joined her the moment she got close enough. Brittany and Rachel, along with Tina and Marley, were running toward Mike, who was lying limply on the ground. Quinn didn't know if he was alive or dead, but judging from the cries of her friends, she was assuming it was the latter.

"Shit!" Santana yelled, fumbling with the ammunition as she tried to reload her gun.

The giant beast was heading for Quinn and Santana; Quinn was still firing her rifle at it and Santana grabbed the shotgun off her back, shooting until there was nothing left in the gun. The blonde was about to tell Santana to run when more shots were fired from the side. Wherever the alien had been hit seemed to do the trick; it let out a thunderous shriek and crashed to the ground, causing the whole area to shake. When Quinn looked to her left, Rachel was lowering her gun, looking slightly dazed up.

"Spaceship!" Sam yelled, pointing to the sky behind him.

"Is this going to fucking end?" Santana asked.

"Run," Quinn commanded.

Santana did as Quinn said and the two ran toward their friends; luckily the spaceship was pretty far off, so she was hoping they could make it to safety before it got close enough to them. Quinn grabbed Rachel's hand the moment she was within reach and started tugging her the other way, knowing that Santana would get Brittany, and hoping the others would get the hint to move.

"Come on!" Quinn yelled.

It was obvious Tina didn't want to leave Mike's body, so Santana tried getting her to stand. It wasn't working, though, so Sam ran over and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her to her feet.

"We have to go," Sam said softly as he cupped her face in his hands.

"I don't want to leave him," Tina said through her sobs.

"I promise we'll come back for him, but right now, we have to go," Sam pleaded.

Tina nodded and gave a meek, "Okay."

The seven started running toward Brittany's house; Quinn kept looking over her shoulder, wondering if they had a chance of making it there in time. The spaceship was still quite far off, but moved a lot faster than they could.

"Move your asses!" Santana yelled from just in front of her.

They were almost to Brittany's house when Puck's group rounded the corner. The four of them were still alive, but Blaine was being supported by Puck and Kurt. Puck had a cut across his cheek and another along his right arm, while blood was soaking through Blaine's right pant leg. Just as the two groups reached one another, the ground exploded to Quinn's right, covering them all in dirt and grass.

"Get to the house," Quinn commanded.

She knew they needed to get to the bunker, but they were completely out in the open at the moment and just needed to get somewhere less exposed. There were a few more beams shot at them, but they all missed, closest one hitting about a yard away from Marley. When Sam threw open the back door, they all ran inside; Quinn didn't stop when everyone else did and continued walking toward the other side of the house, figuring they would be a bit safer there. Everyone else seemed to get the message and followed her through the hall, into the den, where they deposited Blaine on the couch.

"Where's Mike?" Kurt asked looking around.

No one said anything, but it was clear from the look on Kurt's face that he understood.

"What is that noise?" Rachel asked, trying to walk toward the window, but Quinn grabbed her arm.

Instead, Sam walked over, looked out, and smiled. "There's two fighter jets." The smile fell off his face. "And another spaceship."

Puck stood up and started walking to the window as well. "Really, dude—"

The window suddenly exploded, showering the room with glass and wood. Quinn looked up to find a hole in the side of Brittany's house and Sam on the ground, holding his hand to his bleeding head.

"Dude," Puck said, getting up from the ground, and running to him.

"I'm okay," Sam protested.

Quinn rushed over as well to check on him; his head was bleeding where something had hit him and he had a few cuts on his face, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She grabbed a throw from the nearby armchair and pressed it to his head, hoping to stop the flow of blood.

"We need to get back to the bunker," Quinn said, locking eyes with Puck.

He nodded. "I know."

"How are we going to make it, though?" Quinn asked, hoping Puck had the answer.

"I have a plan," Puck said before standing up.

Quinn saw the look on his face and knew what he was about to do. "Puck, no!"

"Make sure everyone gets there," Puck said, taking a few steps back. "Look after Jake, okay?"

Before she had a chance to say anything else, he was already turning around and running toward the back door. Quinn took off after him, but he was already out of the house by the time she got into the room.

"Everyone, get to the bunker right now!" Quinn yelled before following in Puck's footsteps.

"Quinn!" Rachel yelled, following after her.

"Rachel, get to the bunker," Quinn demanded, running as fast as she could to catch up with Puck.

Behind her, she heard an explosion and a few moments later, there were the sounds of shots being fired in the sky. She skidded to a halt and when she turned around, Brittany's house was on fire and a portion of the roof had caved in. She also saw that Rachel, Santana, and Brittany were all running after her, and Jake wasn't very far behind the trio.

"Get to the damn bunker, Q!" Santana yelled, grabbing her by the arm as soon as she was within reach.

"We shouldn't just leave Puck out here," Quinn said, trying to pull away.

Several more explosions sounded and the four ducked; they beams didn't hit near them, though, but further out the field. When Quinn looked up, she could see Puck lying on the ground. She tried to run towards him, but Santana grabbed her around her middle, and was pulling her the other way while Brittany and Rachel tried to subdue Jake.

"We need to go," Santana shouted over the sounds of more explosions and shots.

Quinn's eyes widened. "Down."

She lunged for Rachel, protecting her as best as she could; the spaceship crashed a few yards from them, spraying them all with dirt. Quinn slowly stood up, looking at the metallic disk; it was actually smaller than she thought it would be, but it was still fairly large. Brittany was approaching it with a look of awe on her face while the rest of them stood back and observed it. When the top started opening, though, both Quinn and Santana pulled the blonde back.

"Holy shit," Santana said, watching as the thing emerged from the spaceship.

It was much more humanlike than the other aliens they had encountered; its skin was light gray in color, it had two lanky arms and two legs, large black eyes, and Quinn estimated that it was around eight feet tall. Its body was covered in what looked like some type of armor or suit and it started making noises the moment it saw them. Quinn wondered if it was speaking some kind of language, but it just sounded like a clicking noise to her.

For a split second she wondered if the alien was going to attack them; a moment after the thought entered her head, the thing jumped from the spaceship, landing directly in front of Santana and Brittany. Santana immediately drew her gun, but the alien was faster than her and knocked it out of her hands before she had the chance to shoot, and then threw her several yards back. Quinn and Jake reacted at the same time; the latter rushed forward while the blonde raised her gun and started firing at the alien. It was quick, though, and knocked Jake over before leaping through the air at Quinn. It landed on her, pinning her to the ground, and Quinn was left staring into its black eyes, unable to move. A thick, dark colored liquid was dripping on her from where she had successfully shot the thing, but it didn't appear to be that badly injured.

There was the sound of gunfire and the alien looked over his shoulder, where Quinn could see Rachel standing. When it released Quinn's hands, trying to go after the brunette, she grabbed her gun, which had fallen a few feet away. She aimed for its head since it was the only thing not covered, while Rachel continued to shoot its front. The thing was hard to kill, but with the two of them shooting simultaneously, the alien finally collapsed on the ground.

Quinn laid her head on the ground, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath; when she opened them, Rachel was standing above her, offering her a hand. Quinn smiled sadly and extended her hand, letting the brunette help her up. Quinn looked over to Brittany, who was helping both Santana and Jake. Jake was holding his side and grimacing slightly while Brittany was rubbing the back of Santana's head. Jake started slowly limping towards his brother, but Rachel put her hand on his shoulder as he tried passing.

"We'll get him after," Rachel said with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, there's still one of them damn spaceship out here," Santana said.

"Not anymore," Brittany started.

Quinn looked up and saw the other spaceship falling from the sky; she followed it until it hit the ground, exploding upon impact. The two fighter jets were in the sky, looking a little banged up, but still flying, and Brittany waved to them as they passed overhead.

"Let's get to the bunker before more fucking aliens come," Santana said, heading in the direction of their shelter.

Thankfully, they made it to the bunker without running into anything; at this point, Quinn didn't know if they would be able to take anything on since they were low on ammunition on most of them were limping, bleeding, or both. When to the entrance of the bunker, Sam was waiting on them.

"Welcome back," Sam said, smiling.

Quinn was happy to see the explosion earlier hadn't injured him too badly. As they walked by Rachel gave him a hug, and then the group headed downstairs. When they walked into the room, everyone was sitting around, listening to the CB. Sam went to sit down beside Blaine, whose leg was propped up and bandaged, and Tina, who still had tears running down her cheeks. Marley immediately rushed over to Jake when she saw him, giving him a long hug.

"Any news?" Quinn asked, walking over to Kurt.

"I've been talking to Sue over the radio," Kurt replied, shaking his head. "Her group has cleared out a lot of the downtown areas and word has it that the aliens are retreating from other cities, as well."

Quinn nodded. "Tell her that both spaceships are down."

"Will do," Kurt replied.

Quinn looked around; six days ago there were nineteen of them having a good time at Puck's party, but now only eleven of them were alive, and half the people she started in Glee with were now gone.

Brittany was fussing over Santana and Rachel was sitting next to Kurt; Quinn thought it would be the perfect time to slip away, so she quietly walked to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She was all dirty from the fight, but she didn't have the energy to change clothes before she flopped onto the bottom bunk. She was only in the room a few minutes when she heard the door clicked closed again and she smiled, knowing who it must be.

"I wondered how long it would take you to follow me," Quinn said.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed. "Yes and no."

"I know what you mean," Rachel said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "So many people all around the world have lost their lives, a lot of our friends included, and it's terrible, but at the same time, I'm happy because I finally have you. Without this happening, I highly doubt either of us would have made the leap and told the other how we feel. Then, I feel guilty that I'm feeling happy becau—"

Quinn cut the rest of Rachel's rant off by sitting up and attaching their lips together. The brunette squeaked a bit in surprise, but returned the kiss without much hesitation.

"You know," Rachel suddenly pushed Quinn away, "you can't just kiss me to get me to stop talking."

Quinn sighed and then smiled. "I love you, Rachel."

Rachel smiled back. "I love you, too. I was going to tell you before, but we were so rudely interrupted by Santana and then we were fighting aliens, which didn't seem like the most opportune time, either."

Quinn wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and pulled her down, so they were lying side by side. The brunette snuggled into her, kissing her cheek, and Quinn found herself grinning.

"So, have you decided where we're going on our first date?" Rachel asked, looking up at her, and smiling.

* * *

**The world may not have ended, but I definitely enjoyed writing about it. Thank you to everyone that has read this and a huge thanks to everyone that has left the wonderful comments along the way. Also, my best friend, skittles84, just posted her own end of the world fic called 83 Miles; it's great and definitely worth a read, so give it a shot if you're looking for something good.**

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


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